Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

Starring: Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, Ben Stiller, John Daly, Haley Joel Osment, Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF), Kevin Nealon, Dennis Dugan, Eminem, Marcello Hernandez, Travis Kelce, Reggie Bush, Becky Lynch, Blake Clark, Nick Swardson, Boban Marjanovic, Steve Buscemi, John Farley, Eric André, Margaret Qualley, Martin Herlihy, Post Malone, Kid Cudi, Robert Smigel, Rob Schneider, Jon Lovitz, Kelsey Plum, Stephen A. Smith, Cam’ron, Guy Fieri, Andrew Santino, and Bobby Lee
Grade: A

It was pretty cool of the real golfers in the movie to be good enough sports to be roasted on their real-life career misfires by Shooter McGavin when he questions their clutch gene. Maybe they were cool with it because they got to throw it back in his face (“The guy who beat you got hit by a Volkswagen – Jackass!”).

Summary

Since it’s been a long time since we last seen him, Happy Gilmore (Sandler) reminds the viewer how the character was introduced in the first movie. Growing up, he always wanted to be a hockey player, but he picked up a golf club 30 years ago and it turned out to be a pretty good decision. With this, we see footage of Happy winning the 98th U.S. Open, he married Virginia (Bowen), and they had a son named Gordie. We then see how lucky he came to be, just being able to knock a ball in the hole to win after a bird shit on it and forced it to fall in. Following this, his string of luck continued in big tournaments. On top of that, he had four boys in four years. Because of this, Virginia got him an endorsement deal with Trojan condoms. He tried to get his sons into golf, but their hockey instincts were way too strong. In one instance, they were playing golf with some trash-talking kid, so all four boys just beat the shit out of the kid and the coach. Happy also had a video game to rival Tiger Woods’s, and it was realistic enough to have a level where he fights Bob Barker in a Street Fighter-like way on the golf course. The boys loved it, but it made Happy’s young daughter Vienna nervous. Success continued, and Happy hosted Saturday Night Live a few times. They had it all. One day, as they watched the kids play in the yard, Happy sat with Virginia on the porch and suggested they retire to hang out with the kids all day. However, Virginia doesn’t think they are done with golf and vice versa. Recalling what Chubbs Peterson used to say, she says they’ve only just begun. Sadly, at the 2014 Tour Championship on Mother’s Day no less, Happy hits a ball that manages to strike Virigina in the head, killing her instantly. After the funeral, Happy decided to never pick up a golf club again. From then on, he was a single father of five children. With everything going on, he turned to alcohol. Though he was never a big drinker before, alcohol was the only thing that helped him forget what he did to his wife. However, the money became an issue. At the liquor store, his card declines, so the cashier takes the box of Jack Daniel’s forcefully from him. As a response, he grabs a shooter off the desk and runs. Still, Virginia always handled the finances. Without her, a lot of stuff fell through the cracks.

Then, Happy caught a guy trying to break into his Ferrari. After Happy beat the shit out of him, he found out that the guy wasn’t a thief. He was just a repo man. Happy didn’t know he had to renew the lease. The repo man sued Happy, and Happy lost everything, including Grandma’s house which was everything he fought for in the first Happy Gilmore. When they were moving out, Happy even got a vision of Grandma wearing the Kiss mask in front of the door. Following this, the boys had to move into an apartment together, and Happy and Vienna (Adam Sandler’s real-life daughter Sunny Sandler) found a new place that was more affordable. Of course, this means it’s in a rougher neighborhood. On moving day, they spot a local (Buscemi) waving to them while pissing in a mailbox. The good thing about the neighborhood is that it’s walkable to his new job at a grocery store. In the present, he’s at work stocking vegetables. When he’s by himself, he takes what looks to be a cucumber and takes the top off it, as it’s actually a flask. After drinking from it, Frank Manatee (Safdie) approaches him. He’s a huge fan of Happy and brings up Maxi Sports Drink. Uninterested, Happy tells him that it’s in aisle four, but Frank reveals that he owns the company. He has been working on a cutting-edge golf project, but Happy replies that he doesn’t golf anymore while drinking from his cucumber flask. Frank persists and thinks Happy would consider a return once he hears how huge this league will be, but Happy doesn’t want to hear it. Frank talks about how no one is interested in traditional golf, how boring it is, and how boring the people involved with it are. Happy defends them by saying they are his friends, but Frank explains that Happy inspired this idea of his. He talks about how much he loves Happy and how he would hate for him to pass up such an opportunity to make his life worse than it already is. After a brief pause, Frank says he gets it and that golf makes Happy tense because of what happened to Virginia, but this is enough to set off Happy.

Pointing out Frank’s terrible breath, Happy threatens him, but Frank dares him to do something because he has no problem putting Happy in jail. Happy says it will only happen if he gets caught. Next, he grabs the store phone and calls Linda in the back, requesting her to turn the security cameras off for 90 seconds. Once she does, Happy beats the hell out of Frank and throws him in the lobster tank where they all attack him.

Later, Happy gets home and sees Vienna practicing her ballet on the front porch with her teacher Miss Simon (Sandler’s real-life wife Jackie Sandler). In a house across the street, the weird local from earlier is trying to mimic her movements on his front porch. After Vienna greets Happy, she takes him inside to show him that he was a clue on Jeopardy!. Before getting in the house, Miss Simon tells Happy that Vienna is doing great and needs a better teacher. Upon getting inside the house, Vienna shows Happy on her iPad how the clue details how he won six tour championships since 1996, among other things. Unfortunately, none of the contestants got it right. They all just guessed random Jewish names. Moving on, Vienna tells Happy she’s making his grandma’s brisket for dinner since the boys are coming over. Once Vienna leaves the room, Happy asks Miss Simon what she meant by her earlier comment. She explains that she works at the Boys and Girls Club. Vienna is light years beyond anyone else she’s ever taught. Happy asks where Vienna should go, and Miss Simon brings up the Paris Opera Ballet School. It’s in Paris, and they only have four slots open each year. Miss Simon sent videos of Vienna to them, and they’re saving one of the slots for her. The catch is that it’s $75,000 a year. At dinner, Happy is still shocked at the news and doesn’t have much to say while Vienna talks about how she marinated the brisket in ketchup like Happy said his grandma used to do. Brothers Gordie (MJF), Wayne (Ethan Cutkosky), Bobby (Philip Fine Schneider), and Terry (Conor Sherry) all compliment Vienna on the food. Bobby jokes that she will have to make more, and Terry tells him to make his own. This turns into an instant fight that Happy has to break up. He reminds them they fight in the basement, not at the table. Changing the subject, Happy asks how work has been going. Gordie says he’s loving the road crew. In a quick cutaway, Gordie has a traffic cone in between his legs in a very Happy Gilmore-like manner to get a laugh out of his co-workers. Bobby says he’s killing it at the car wash. In his cutaway, it’s more or less the same thing with him substituting the traffic cone for a hose.

Wayne adds that he’s going for Employee of the Month at the drugstore. In his cutaway, he substitutes the traffic cone for a crutch near the grocery carts. Terry says he’s been keeping the sky safe at the airport. In his cutaway, he substitutes the traffic cone for the light-up wands used to direct the planes from the ground. Even though he’s entertaining his co-workers, the nearby plane drives into a staircase which forces Terry to run over and get the plane’s attention to stop. Getting out of the flashback, Happy comments how they wouldn’t have to be working if he didn’t lose all their money. Bobby and Terry are quick to say they don’t need money and how it’s for snobs, but Happy is realistic about it. He knows everyone needs money to chase their dreams. They didn’t get to go to college because they thought they had to stick around to keep an eye on Happy, something Happy acknowledges. All the boys quickly dispel this, with Gordie joking how he’s psyched that Happy thought any of them could get into college in the first place. The boys argue and joke with each other, but it’s all in good fun. However, Happy spins the top off the pepper shaker, as it’s actually another flask. After he drinks from it, he looks at an old, framed picture of him and Virginia while the kids mess with each other. At the end of the night, the boys get into the van to leave, moon Happy and Virginia, and do so while still somehow driving the van. Sitting in their garage is John Daly, and he comments how the kids are a chip off the old block. He tells Happy that he’s almost out of there because he put a down payment on a tent. Happy tells him to stop because he doesn’t want Daly to leave, and Daly appreciates it. He invites Happy to the garage to watch Love Island with him, but he turns him down to go to bed. Inside, Vienna helps the drunken Happy to his bedroom. She knows Miss Simon talked to Happy about dance school, but she downplays it and tells him not to think about it. Happy talks about how he wanted to be on the Boston Bruins as a teenager. He sees this as her Bruins, except she knows how to dance, and he never knew how to skate. Once he starts talking about how good of a dance Virginia was, Vienna tells him goodnight.

In his dream, Happy envisions his classic “Happy Place”, with Virigina holding two pitchers of Moosehead beer in lingerie. The later version of Virgina appears and jokes about how this was Happy’s happy place. Happy appears and apologizes to her for, well, killing her. She’s fine with it, noting how he’s apologized for it a thousand times. Moving on, she brings up how she knows he’s worried about the future of their kids, but she says he has to show them by example. She wants them to see the Happy that she fell in love with. Happy replies that he’s not that man anymore. He grabs the pitcher of beer out of the older version of Virginia’s hand, but the later version of Virginia takes it out of Happy’s hand and puts it back. Virgina tells Happy that he needs purpose, so she wants to tell him what she’s always told him. She stresses that he’s not a hockey player. However, just as she’s about to tell him who he is, Happy wakes up from his dream.

He knows who he is. Happy goes into the attic and finds all of his old golf stuff like the big checks he won, a framed Sports Illustrated cover he was on, and a bunch of other things. He moves his hockey sticks over and finds his old golf clubs. Instantly, he remembers fighting his caddie in Happy Gilmore when he didn’t know what a caddie was. Happy goes outside and sets up his tee, ready to hit a golf ball for the first time in years. However, he stops. Daly is outside watching and asks how else he will be able to put Vienna through ballet school. Happy is shocked he even knows about it, but Daly continues, reminding him how it’s $75,000 a year. He adds that with 4 years of it, it’s $333,000. Happy says it would actually be $300,000, but Daly just asks how he’s going to do it. Happy suggests picking up a few double shifts at the supermarket, but Daly stops him and reminds him how golf is the only way to get the money fast. Happy isn’t even sure where to start, so Daly replies that he has to start at the bottom. The next day, Happy goes to a local golf course where the receptionists (Plum and Andrew Watt) direct him to a group of three already on the green he can play with. Happy catches up to the group consisting of Steiner (André), Fitzy (Herlihy), and Sally (Qualley). They don’t recognize Happy with his sunglasses and hat on, and they are annoyed playing with someone else, though they begrudgingly let him join. The practice doesn’t go well. Happy continuously fumbles every shot and drinks throughout. At one point, Fitzy suggests he give the “Happy Gilmore swing” a rest since it isn’t working for him, prompting Happy to take off his glasses and lift his hat to show the three that he is Happy Gilmore. The three can’t believe how bad Happy is. On the golf cart, they talk about it, though Sally still wants to get his autograph because her aunt used to “cream her jeans” for him. Happy appears in the back of the golf cart and jokes that he will sign her jeans for $300,000. Later on, Happy thinks back to Chubbs Peterson’s advice from Happy Gilmore about how it’s all “in the hips”, and he finds himself at ease. With this, he drives the next shot at a Happy Gilmore-like distance we’re all used to. He dances around, and Steiner, Fitzy, and Sally cheer him on.

After this, Steiner rides with Happy in the golfcart and hypes him up while asking Happy to show him how to hit the ball like that, but he doesn’t see that Happy is asleep. The problem is that Happy is driving, so he goes right over a hill and into Fitzy and Sally’s golf cart, causing an explosion. Fitzy and Sally got out just in time, though everyone is injured except for Happy. On Sports Hole with Pat Daniels (Dan Patrick), Pat details the story about Happy driving the golf cart while intoxicated, and there is accompanying footage of the scene. Happy was arrested and charged with vandalism and driving under the influence. Prosecutors agreed to suspend the golf-cart-related charges on the condition that Happy refrain from any physical violence and attend a radical alcohol treatment program. He was also fired from his job at Stop and Shop. Security camera footage is shown of Happy putting a stack of cups on his groin at the store in the classic Happy Gilmore way. At the Westford State Mental Hospital, Shooter McGavin (McDonald) is questioned by three board members in a private room. The man talks about how Shooter was arrested in 1996 for inciting injury to persons or property, conspiracy to commit vehicular manslaughter, criminal menacing, and stealing a jacket. At trial, Shooter was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remanded to their facility. That was 29 years ago, though Shooter notes how it feels like yesterday. The board is inclined to release Shooter since it’s been long enough. They want to know what he would do if they granted this. Right away, Shooter comments how he would give back to the community and rambles about how the children are the future and how he wants to help animals. As he tries to tell them everything they want to hear, the female board member asks about Happy Gilmore, but Shooter assures them he would stay far away from Happy. The other board member brings up the hypothetical about accidentally running into him at a golf course.

Shooter just says he would wave or nod. However, once the woman suggests a hypothetical of Happy wearing the gold jacket, Shooter begins to tense up as he still remembers the climax to Happy Gilmore perfectly. Still just as furious as he was before, Shooter replies that he would fill a pillowcase with golf balls and beat the piss out of him. Shooter stands up and starts flipping out about all the things he would do to Happy, forcing the board to call in security to take Shooter back to his cell. At the H.A.L (Healing Alkies for Life) meeting, Charlotte (Sandler’s other real-life daughter Sadie Sandler) eases Happy’s tension and talks about how the first five days are the roughest, but he will turn the corner right after. He appreciates it and wants to confirm that this meeting is on the down low, but he’s interrupted by an excited Bessie (Kym Whitley) who can’t believe Happy is a drinker too. Happy questions where the therapist is, but Charlotte says that he will be there soon. He just likes to make an entrance. Immediately after, the therapist is revealed to be Hal L. (Stiller), the same therapist who treated his grandma like a piece of shit in the first film. Hal acts like he’s excited to see Happy and asks how his grandma is, so Happy reveals that she died 15 years ago. Hal questions if he started drinking around then, but he admits it was when his wife got killed. Hal simply comments, “It’s always something, isn’t it?”. At the beginning of the meeting, Hal brings Happy up front to introduce him as the new member of the group. Happy tries to say the traditional line of saying his name and how he’s an alcoholic, but Hal corrects him. Here, they don’t say they are alcoholics because they aren’t “scientists”. He wants Happy to say “alkie” because it keeps things light. Following this, Hal invites Charlotte to speak about the music festival she was attending that she was concerned about. He asks how it went, and she says it was fine. Her friends offered her drinks, but she didn’t have any. Hal bets she wanted the liquor bad and suggests she would kick her own mother in the face just to get a sniff of it, but Charlotte is confused and disagrees.

Hal can’t accept this and sees her response as lying. If you don’t stop lying, you don’t stop drinking, according to Hal. He asks her how a “degenerate, low-life alkie takes the first step to recovery”. She guesses it happens by washing his car, which is what Hal considers to be the correct answer. He sets it up to happen on 3PM Thursday, confirming that he’s just like he was in the original Happy Gilmore. Happy questions how washing his car has to do with not drinking. Hal smiles while noting how Happy is thinking but should be listening to Hal and keeping his mouth shut. Hal talks about how this is a radical alcohol treatment program. The Chief Judge is his Uncle Dave, and he gave Hal permission to do whatever he wants with the people in the room (“You’re in my world now”). On the Bad Friends podcast with Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee, Frank is a guest and previews a commercial for Maxi, a reimagining of golf as a sport to modernize it. He goes on a podcast run, appearing on Hot Ones and Cam’ron’s podcast. Frank talks about how he’s got a roster in his league that are already among the best golfers in the world. He says they’re better than the golfers on tour. Cam’ron suggests he talk to Happy Gilmore, but Frank lies and says he doesn’t know who he is. In his house, Happy watches the interview on his laptop and sarcastically comments that he should tell that to the lobsters. He looks over and sees Daly eating the chicken wings that have been in the fridge for three weeks. Daly says the sauce he’s using gets rid of the bacteria, so Happy just wishes him luck. At the same time, Vienna is in the room and is dumping all of the flasks of alcohol hidden throughout the house. Happy tells her to grab the TV remote as well, which answers her question as to why the remote never worked. Daly asks what he’s doing on the laptop, so Happy admits he’s looking for a job. Dairy Queen might be hiring. Daly reminds him how golf is the answer, but Happy notes how he’s already tried it and it didn’t work out. At the same time, he tells Vienna that grandma’s cuckoo clock has alcohol in it too. As she opens the clock and a shooter of Jack Daniel’s pops out of it, Daly tries to encourage Happy and argues how he can’t quit after one bad round.

He knows Happy had to have a couple of decent shots, but Happy says he hit 1 out of 117. Remaining positive, Vienna says he’ll get better with each hit, but Happy brings up how he’s 58. Daly points out how he doesn’t have to be the best. If he finishes 30th in the Tour Championship, he will make $100,000. Happy doesn’t even see this as a possibility since he just lost to three randoms on a municipal course. Daly argues that he was hammered, and Vienna suggests he just practice. Daly notes how he doesn’t have anything else to do since he’s sober. Considering it, Happy tells Vienna the hand sanitizer is one of his alcohol packages as well. Daly grabs it to finish it for him, but it turns out it actually was hand sanitizer and Happy was messing with him. At Dick’s Sporting Goods, Happy looks at some clubs and a worker (Paige Spiranac) recognizes him. She goes out of her way to help him out and has him test out some of the clubs. Now, practice has begun. He hits some golf balls on a beach where a homeless guy (Clark) scoffs at his attempts. Happy putts at Wayne’s work in-between an aisle. The homeless guy tries to give Happy a pointer but accidentally launches the golf club across the beach. At the airport at Terry’s work, Happy chases around a remote-control car to get his speed up similar to Rocky Balboa chasing the rooster in Rocky II. The practicing continues, and as Vienna texts Happy words of encouragement, he gets better. At one of Hal’s meetings, Hal has them all reading from his book, My Struggle Against Unfairness. As Hal reads aloud, Happy drops Chubbs’s old book The Science of Golf, as he had it hiding in Hal’s book. Hal picks it up and throws it at the wall. After Happy and Charlotte are forced to paint Hal’s porch and the front of the house, Happy is later at one of Vienna’s dance recitals and is fulfilled seeing her. Moving forward, he continues to improve. He catches the remote-control car for his workout, his drives at Dick’s Sporting Goods draws cheering crowds, and he putts in the ball at Wayne’s work. At the house, he manages to putt a ball in his shoe that was placed on the mantle, and Daly cheers him on while drinking the hand sanitizer regularly.

He goes to the range, and every one of his drives nail another golfer’s (Lovitz) ball to the point where he yells at Happy. Happy leaves. Once he’s 30 days sober, the boys bring Happy over a dummy of Hal for him to beat up, and they join in on the fun. At Dick’s, Happy hits a drive so hard that it breaks the virtual screen he’s hitting into. He apologizes, but everyone watching cheers for him. Meanwhile, that golfer at the range attempts a Happy Gilmore drive once Happy leaves, but he falls right off the level and gets his foot caught in the net, hanging upside down.

Eventually, it’s time. Happy packs up the car for the tournament. After Vienna tells him how she packed a thermos of coffee for him and a protein bar and he thanks her, Happy tells all of his kids how he’s just hoping to make it in one of the top 30 spots. Gordie knows how the top spot will get him the money to send Vienna to dance school though and encourages him to go for it all. Terry agrees and says one of them has to amount to something, but Happy says they’re all something to him. They all have a group hug, and Bobby notes how this is the first time Happy will be away from them since Virginia died. Vienna notes how they can FaceTime every day, and everyone assures Bobby that it’s going to be okay. Plus, Happy promises he will be back on Sunday and hopes to bring a big check back to them. Before he leaves, he tells them to make sure Daly doesn’t sleep in his bed. If he does, Happy says no to M&Ms. That night, Happy attends the big Tour Champions Dinner for the tour players and legends of golf. There, busts are seen from the five-time winners of the Tour Championship. It consists of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Happy, though Happy hates his bust because his teeth make him look like SpongeBob. Just then, he’s interrupted by the commissioner of the professional golf tour in Doug Thompson (Dugan) who greets him. They catch up, and Doug admits it gets harder every year. This time, it’s because of the Maxi Golf League. Happy saw the commercial for it and comments how stupid it looked, but Doug goes on about how it’s faster-paced and their biggest sponsors are suddenly slow to call him back. He’s got a bad feeling about this. Happy argues how they have the greatest golfers in the world and this is what the people want to see. Doug brings up how Frank said his golfers are better, so Happy knows there’s only one way to find out. He tells Doug to challenge him because people would love to watch it. Doug jokes how much Virginia rubbed off on him, and Happy jokes back how they had five kids together, so she rubbed off on him a lot and he laid there like a sack of potatoes.

At the celebratory Tour Champions Dinner, Happy sits with legends of the game and they’re all happy to see him.

They are surprised to hear he’s actually playing though, as most of them aren’t since they are so much older. Jack Nicklaus orders the ingredients to an Arnold Palmer from the lead waiter (Kelce), but when the waiter refers to it as an “Arnold Palmer”, Nicklaus introduces himself and thinks the waiter made a mistake guessing who he is. Once the waiter leaves, the golfers ask why Happy is going to play. Happy admits he’s out of cash, but Vienna has a chance to go to ballet school in Paris. At another table, Jordan Spieth tells busboy Oscar Mejías (Bunny) his drink order was incorrect, so Oscar goes back to tell their server. Nicklaus asks Happy about Shooter, and Happy admits he’s still institutionalized. They ask if Shooter was friends with O.J. Simpson. Happy says they used to vacation together, but he’s not sure if they were friends. At the mental institution, Shooter is reading The Shining in his room and laughing his ass off (“This guy’s losing it”). He’s interrupted by the guard and is told that he has powerful friends, as they were given a court order for Shooter’s immediate release. Back at the dinner, Oscar tells the main waiter about Spieth wanting a different drink order, and the waiter gets mad and accuses Oscar of throwing him under the bus to look like the hero in front of Spieth. He fires Oscar on the spot, and Happy can see the whole argument from his table. He questions the waiter if it was necessary to be that harsh, but he downplays it and changes the subject. At the mental ward, Shooter is let out of the building and steps into the rain as happy as can be. He is then stopped by Frank who is waiting in the car for him. He’s the one who got Shooter out and he notes how big of a fan he is. Back at the dinner, Doug does a speech for everyone in attendance and brings up the issue of the Maxi Golf League who “allege that they are going to make golf more watchable”. Xander Schauffele tries to make two “That’s what she said” jokes that don’t land, but the waiter acts like it was hilarious the second time, which Schauffele appreciates. Even so, Doug says he just got off the phone with Frank, who’s the president of Maxi Golf League, and challenged him to a competition. Apparently, Frank accepted and then farted into the phone.

The competition will be their five best versus Frank’s five best players. Collin Morikawa says they could bring out their five worst and still beat Frank’s team. All the players in attendance agree, so Doug comes up with a plan. The top five finishers this weekend will represent them in the challenge. Schauffele mouths another “That’s what she said” in a hushed voice, and the waiter laughs again. Nevertheless, Doug proudly states how they will eliminate this league before it even officially launches. Nicklaus tells Happy that he now has something else to play for. As everyone is standing up and cheering, the waiter chest bumps Schauffele into Morikawa and they fall and break a dinner table. After Schauffele comments how there’s a fork in his ass, Rickie Fowler makes a “That’s what she said” joke and everyone in the room cheers. At the U.S. Bank Tour Championship, Verne Lundquist and Jack Beard are on the call and talk about how everyone is talking about the return of Happy Gilmore following a 10-year absence. Daly and Happy’s kids are watching it on TV. Upon getting to his locker, a worker tells Happy that some of the golfers made up his locker for him. Once he opens it, he sees it’s a practical joke, as the golfers filled it with stuff like Bengay, Tums, Preparation H, MiraLAX, and adult diapers. Bypassing this, he grabs his signature Boston Bruins jersey. Tony Finau stops him and notes how Happy didn’t make the Bruins but could make this five-man team. Happy appreciates the kind words, but he’s just worried about making the cut in general. Morikawa brings up how Sergio Garcia told him about how Happy forgot to bring a caddie for his first tournament, asking Happy if the story is true. Happy admits it happened and how he didn’t know the rules back then, and Morikawa and Finau can’t believe it. In this moment, Happy realizes he did it again and doesn’t have a caddie. He spots Will Zalatoris in the locker room looking at him. Will was Happy’s first caddie that he beat up in Happy Gilmore who is now all grown up. Happy approaches him and lies about how his caddie moved to Switzerland for tax purposes. He suggests they partner up for old times’ sake, but Will has to turn him down.

Happy asks Will if he’s still mad about Happy choking him, but Will explains that he’s not a caddie anymore. He’s actually competing in the tournament since he’s a pro golfer now. Happy accepts this and wishes him the best. Once he leaves, Will admits that he is in fact still mad at Happy for choking him while calling him a “Son of a bitch” behind his back. Regardless, Happy makes Oscar his caddie. Unfortunately, Oscar knows nothing about golf. In the meantime, Gary Potter (Nealon) interviews number one ranked Scottie Scheffler but does a poor enough job with his questioning that Scheffler just leaves (“Scottie, if you’re the best, does that make everyone else the worst?”). Following this, Justin Thomas, Will, and Happy go to tee off. Justin starts off with a solid hit, and Happy gives him credit. Justin reciprocates the kind words and says he’s rooting for Happy since they all love him. Will goes next. When they announce his name, Happy is genuinely surprised because he never knew his name. Will laughs it off but imitates Happy’s comment to himself in a mocking tone. Happy begins to feel intimidated and talks to Oscar about it. Oscar offers to get him a refill on his water or breadsticks because he’s still in busboy mode. Happy decides to go to his “Happy Place”. When he imagines Virginia with the beer though, he’s quickly thrown out of the vision after Will nails his shot. Since he doesn’t drink anymore, the vision doesn’t work for him. Next up is Happy. When he goes over to the ball, he realizes he needs to update his “Happy Place” to something a little more age appropriate. With this, he imagines himself sitting on the toilet outside watching videos on his phone, getting a low cholesterol reading from a nurse, seeing a guy (Schneider) riding a tricycle yelling “You can do it!”, and pulling out medium-sized sweatpants. Finally, Happy is at ease and hits his signature drive that goes nearly all the way, knocking Finau’s ball in the hole. It’s a great start, though Happy has to tell Oscar to bring the clubs with him because he was about to walk without them. Embarrassed, Oscar grabs the bag and lifts it, so Happy also tells him he can use the strap.

With this, the game really begins, and Happy is right in the mix with Justin and Will. As the game moves on, Happy uses his club to hit a snake that lands on Will who freaks out, he turns down drinks from the crowd but accepts coffee straight out of a box from Dunkin Donuts, and Oscar accepts the crowd’s offer and chugs from the beer bong.

Still, Happy picks up right where he left off and is having fun on the green again. At one point, he accepts a FaceTime from his boys and Daly and has a golfer hold the phone for him so they can watch his next drive. They respond by mooning him from the phone. At day two of the tour where Happy is ranked 8th, Oscar shows up late and brings his own caddie, his brother Esteban (Marcello Hernandez). Happy tells Oscar that caddies don’t have caddies, so Oscar asks if Esteban can play. Happy explains that it’s a pro tournament, so Esteban has to go. Esteban takes it in stride, takes a hat off a cop standing there, and runs while being chased by the two cops. As the tournament moves on, Will starts choking his caddie, and Happy smiles and comments how Will gets it now. Heading into Saturday, Happy has risen to the 3rd spot. Eventually, he takes the top spot, and the kids are excited watching it on TV, hitting the rubber doll head of Hal around with hockey sticks in the living room. Later, Happy is on his final hole and looks for positive energy. Oscar asks if he can help, so Happy asks Oscar to go to his own “Happy Place”. Oscar imagines the waiter tied to a poll, Oscar brushing honey on him, and a bear tearing the waiter apart. Oscar declares he’s happy now and tells Happy to hit the ball. Before he does, Happy correctly guesses that Oscar was thinking about a bear eating the waiter, and Oscar confirms. He also confirms there was honey involved when Happy guesses this too. Utilizing his hockey stick to putt, Happy hits the ball and it bounces off Will’s ball marker coin to go directly into the hole. The crowd is going crazy, the kids at home are cheering, Daly is trying to find the remnants of alcohol in the cuckoo clock, and Happy tackles an unwilling Will in excitement. Oscar does the same to Will’s caddie. On Sports Hole, Pat Daniels talks about how it was less than two months ago where Happy hit rock bottom in a drunken golf cart crash. Now, Happy is less than 18 holes away from a 7th gold jacket. On ESPN, Stephen A. Smith talks about how the only explanation is that Happy has reached an agreement with Satan.

Afterwards, Happy is greeted by a bunch of golfers and Billy Jenkins (Osment) introduces himself who Happy incorrectly calls “Bobby”. Billy talks about how he had the best round of his life and is in second place. He plays Happy tomorrow, and Happy is excited about it and shakes up with him. It’s a spot Billy has never been in before. Happy talks about how no matter what, the top five get to play against the “buffoons from the new league”. Bubba Watson asks about the details of the new league, and Happy details how Frank came to him to talk about it and had the worst breath he’s ever smelled in his life. He departs for a meeting and says goodbye to the both of them, getting Billy’s name wrong again and calling him “David”. At Hal’s meeting, Nate (Farley) tells the group how he can no longer purchase magic markers in the state of Connecticut and is one day sober. Hal goes up next and gives Nate a backhanded compliment about how he’s an example to them all. Next, Hal brings up Happy’s accomplishments and Charlotte tells Happy how inspiring it is. After the group claps for him, Bessie comments how Happy has made black people like golf again. To bring him down a peg, Hal says he hopes Happy can continue to play well tomorrow, despite it being Mother’s Day. Happy knows he said it because of Virginia and just angrily looks at him. On the final round of the Tour Championship, Billy is announced as a journeyman who is getting his first taste of real success. The only person standing in his way is Happy. Verne Lundquist then says Happy’s middle name is “Octavius”, but it’s actually not. He just thought it sounded cool. Before Billy goes up, he’s told he’s not allowed to wear shorts and it’s a two-stroke penalty. Billy is fine with the penalty though because he doesn’t want to be hot today, adding that it makes his balls itchy. After Billy’s shot, Happy goes next and gets a vision of Virginia watching from the crowd. It distracts him and his drive goes wide right.

At a hotel somewhere, Shooter is enjoying some pancakes in his room and Frank enters to greet him. He wants to take him on a tour and promises to get him a fresh stack of pancakes when he brings him back. Shooter stands up to go, and he’s not wearing anything below the waist, prompting Frank to suggest he put on some underwear before they leave. Back at the game, Drago Larson (Boban Marjanović) is one of the crowd members and gets Happy’s attention, revealing that he’s the son of Mr. Larson from the first Happy Gilmore. Happy excitedly shakes his hand and apologizes for causing the nail to get stuck in Larson’s head. Funnily enough, Drago says his dad had it removed but put it back in because he missed it. He says his dad passed away after rolling over in his sleep. Drago is there with his mom though and introduces her. After Drago mentions Happy’s five kids, his mother tells Happy to tell his wife happy Mother’s Day. Once she’s told that Virginia passed away, she starts yelling at Drago and Happy walks away. Happy grabs a wedge and is about to go, but he imagines his boys in the crowd complaining about not having a mom. It distracts Happy, and he hits the ball into the pond. After this, he excuses himself to go to the bathroom. At Frank’s gym where the Maxi players are practicing, Frank takes Shooter around and talks about the new golf revolution he’s trying to start. Shooter assumes Happy loves all of this, but Frank laughs this off and calls Happy a “broken man”, mentioning the death of Virginia. Shooter didn’t realize she died and is affected by this news. Using his terrible breath to unlock a door to a room that the computer detects as a fart, Frank takes Shooter inside. Meanwhile, Happy sulks in the bathroom imagining Virginia. He looks at his phone and drinks the alcohol contained inside, relapsing. Looking in the mirror, he decides it’s time to play some golf. Following this, Happy blows the lead and Billy takes over. Gary tries to get an interview with Happy, but he tells Gary to suck his white ass. Next, Happy hits one shot that knocks the teeth off his bust. It takes him down to the number 5 spot on the leaderboard. Still, he’s drinking nonstop now.

Back with Frank and Shooter, Frank opens a safe to show Shooter the foundation of Maxi Golf. Inside is a file containing an x-ray from 1957 of Ben Daggett (Swardson). Daggett is the only guy who could hit the ball further than Happy Gilmore. Shooter has never heard of Daggett because he was a degenerate. As a black-and-white flashback is shown of Daggett, Frank talks about how Daggett couldn’t putt for shit. He just drove around in the 1950s dominating long drive contests. They say he could carry the ball 500 yards. One day, one of the mobsters he owed money to, took a golf shoe and shoved it right up Ben’s ass. That’s where the x-ray was taken. Getting out of the flashback, Frank and Shooter are in Frank’s office. Frank shows him the x-ray of the shoe up Daggett’s ass. Frank points out how it’s the iliolumbar ligament. It’s in two pieces because of an incident earlier in Daggett’s life where he severed it in a childhood go-karting accident. The separation of the ligament from when he was a kid increased Daggett’s range of motion in his hips, dramatically improving the amount of torque and club speed that he could generate. Not fully understanding, Shooter assumes Daggett could hit it far because of the shoe in his ass, but Frank tells him to knock it off. He explains again it was the go-karting incident that severed the ligament and turned him into a long ball hitting freak. Frank reveals that all of his golfers for Maxi had their iliolumbar ligaments snipped too. Shooter sees this as cheating and questions who would agree to a surgery like that. It turns out that Billy is one of them. Frank vaguely just replies to Shooter that it was a journeyman who was good enough for the pros but couldn’t figure out how to beat the legends. After we see a massive drive from Billy to Happy’s shock, Frank says he wants Shooter to be the captain of the Maxi team. He brings him over to the window to tell him some more key details. They don’t do 18 holes. They only do 7, and they have a shot clock. Shooter is disgusted and wants nothing to do with what he sees as an abomination.

Frank throws out a subtle threat about how it was hard to get him released, but it might be a lot easier to get him recommitted to the mental hospital. Shooter takes a sip of the hot coffee and then splashes it in Frank’s face. Frank falls and breaks a glass table, and Shooter escapes.

On Sports Hole, Pat Daniels talks about how the entire sports world was rooting for Happy and then he took all the good will and basically set it on fire. Footage is shown of Happy face-first in the sand and Oscar telling him to go to his “Happy Place”. Daniels also mentions how Happy lost out on playing against the Maxi League, as he’s looking at a 6th place finish. Billy was going to lead the five-man team against the Maxi League, but Billy reveals at the press conference afterwards that he’s a member of the Maxi Golf League. Sporting a bandage over his eye from the coffee burns, Frank storms the podium to let everyone know that Billy is a part of the new league where “we hit longer, look cooler, and party harder”. He breathes on Billy and Billy coughs because his breath smells so bad. Frank takes Billy’s gold jacket and throws it. On ESPN, Stephen A. Smith comments how his sources say that Happy’s actions violated a plea agreement relating to his drunken golf cart crash earlier this year, and he only avoided arrest due to an ally causing a distraction. This is where footage is shown of Drago streaking on the golf course. Regardless, Smith reveals that Happy is facing 6 years in state prison. Happy buses home in shame. Later, Shooter visits Virginia’s grave and mentions how it must have been tough working in a man’s league. After he apologizes for asking her for a Pepsi, Happy interrupts to remind Shooter it was specifically a Diet Pepsi. The two have a standoff, and Happy brings up how he hasn’t seen him since he ran off with the gold jacket. Shooter argues it was his, so Happy tells him to keep it because he has five more. A frustrated Shooter says Happy never would have won them if he wasn’t away and how Happy stole his life from him. Happy questions why he would want the life of someone who eats pieces of shit for breakfast, calling back to the classic joke from the first movie. With this, Shooter spears him into the tombstone of Bob Barker. They continue to fight all over the cemetery and they run into the graves of Happy’s grandma, prompting Happy to apologize for losing the house again, and Donald “Jackass” Floyd.

By the time they get to Chubbs’s grave, they sit down exhausted. Smiling, Shooter says this was round one, but Happy is done. He tells Shooter that he can tell everyone he won. Shooter mocks him with rhymes like Happy did in the first movie, and Happy gives him credit. He then sucker punches Shooter and declares them even. They help each other up and all is well. Shooter then asks Happy if his hip ligaments are cut in half or if someone stuck a shoe up his ass (“You realize these are strange questions, right?”). Happy says no, so Shooter lets him in on Frank’s theory. Happy assures him he drives the ball the old-fashioned way, with rage. Inviting Shooter back to his house to finally put on some regular clothes as opposed to the pajamas he’s been wearing all day, they both stop to hear the ghostly bellow of the nursing home lady that Happy dropped an air conditioner on in the first movie. Happy and Shooter run off. At home, the kids tell Happy there is a warrant out for his arrest. Happy considers turning himself in, but Vienna says they will ask the lawyer when he gets there. Shooter comes downstairs wearing some of Happy’s clothes and asks how he looks. Bobby jokes that he looks like Happy. Shooter is fine with it and comments that at least he’s not wearing “that ridiculous Bruins jersey”, prompting everyone to start yelling at Shooter. They are interrupted by a knock at the door. It’s the lawyer (Smigel). He was the IRS guy in the first movie, but he was tired of everyone hating him and “occasionally being thrown through a glass door”, as he vividly remembers Happy doing this to him. So, he went to law school. Gordie brings up the irony of him not wanting to be hated, so he decided to become a lawyer, and everyone laughs. As Shooter watches Love Island with Daly on the couch and comments about the body of the woman on the show, Daly replies that they don’t objectify women anymore before squirting some hand sanitizer in his mouth.

In the kitchen, the lawyer tells Happy and his family that the DA has withdrawn the arrest warrant. Though Happy appeared to be drunk at the tournament, he wasn’t administered an alcohol test. Furthermore, Happy came in 6th at the tournament and won $496,000. They all start cheering, but the lawyer has to explain the bad news. The tour is fining Happy $500,000 for bad behavior. Daly interrupts and questions if he lost $37,000, but Terry says it’s $33,000. Happy has to correct them both to say it’s $4,000. The good news is that since Billy opted out of the tour team to play for Maxi, it moves Happy up to 5th. He made the team. Sadly, Happy is still down on himself, so Vienna takes him outside to talk. Next, Shooter comes over to speak with the lawyer. The lawyer details Frank’s sworn statement that Shooter is technically an escapee from a mental institution. Daly jokes that he’s welcomed to the club before drinking more hand sanitizer and passing out. On the porch, Vienna tells Happy that it doesn’t matter if he plays for the team or not. The most important thing is that he stops drinking. Happy can’t find peace though. The only reason he joined the tour was to get Vienna the future she deserved, and he managed to lose $4,000. Vienna questions that even if he made the money, she could not leave him like this, though Happy argues that it’s not her job to take care of him. The boys stand at the screen door and say otherwise, as they consider it their duty. Vienna has an idea. She knows someone who can help.

The redemption starts now, and it couldn’t come at a better time, as the five-on-five with the Maxi Golf League could determine the future of the sport as we know it.

My Thoughts:

Making a sequel nearly 30 years after the original is always a gamble, especially when one is revisiting a comedy classic like Happy Gilmore. It’s not just about trying to replicate the original’s success. It’s the risk of ruining a good thing, a beloved movie that has provided generations with laughs since its release in 1996. Is there a strong enough story to risk souring the high note the first movie left on? Is there a good enough reason for these characters to go through another arc, for audiences to give it a chance, and for them to potentially ruin their memories of what the first film was? Trying to recapture the magic of Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy’s outrageously funny sports comedy, its heartwarming core, and all-time battle between hero and villain may have been lighting in a bottle. Trying to replicate the quotable, slapstick, ridiculousness embedded throughout its runtime it is hard to live up to so many years later. Shockingly, Sandler pulls off yet another comedic triumph with Happy Gilmore 2, a lively sequel combining the star’s trademark humor with an unexpectedly involving story about aging, family, forgiveness, redemption, and finding one’s purpose.

With age comes wisdom, and with wisdom, there is a bigger story to tell. Because of this, Happy Gilmore 2 is significantly longer than the breezy 92 minutes the original was, though it had to be this way. To get the point across and truly develop the new journey the protagonist goes through while trying to bridge the gap between both films, the movie had to be extended past the normal running time usually allotted for a comedy. If it didn’t, the screenplay would miss out on some crucial details, moments, and character development opportunities. This is especially true with the star of the show. The peaks and valleys Happy Gilmore goes through before the story takes shape are necessary in showing why this return to form is such a big deal for him and for his family. Starting with the extended opening sequence, the viewer is treated to everything they have missed since 1996, how Happy became a legend of the sport, what a great father and husband he turned into, and how lucky he was on and off the green. Unfortunately, life isn’t perfect. It’s all peaks and valleys. Granted, Happy’s peak lasted a long time, and he couldn’t even believe in his luck sometimes. It got close enough to perfection for Happy to consider retirement and just enjoy life, but he wasn’t done just yet. Then, the valley came in like a brick, halting his life in an instant. Just when life couldn’t get any better, Happy accidentally killed his beloved wife Virginia with his own golf ball. After this, he gave up on everything, the sport and himself. The valley kept going deeper and he lost his house, fortune, and everything else. The man who was lucky enough to stumble upon a Hall of Fame golfing career after failing as a hockey player and having a 20-year prime hits rock bottom, becoming an alcoholic minimum wage worker at a grocery store. Just like that, we are all caught up to what Happy has become. At the same time, the humor never subsides, as this first act is still funny as hell. Despite being more grounded than the first one was for the sake of writing a more layered screenplay, Sandler still finds a ways to keep things light, like the character’s newfound alcoholism taking a play out of Donny Berger from That’s My Boy‘s playbook and finding a creative way to sneak in some alcohol at the most random and amusing times.

Still, for an Adam Sandler comedy, it’s actually quite mature in a lot of ways, with an aging Sandler aging the character to match the realities of someone his age would face given the circumstances. Happy isn’t the stubborn maniac he was before. He has evolved into something more akin to his nicer, subdued role as the titular character in Mr. Deeds. Now, that doesn’t mean the funny lashing out and aggressiveness of Happy is gone, as that’s still very much a part of the character. However, just as a 58-year-old father of 5 would be, he picks and chooses his spots. Constantly screaming and fighting would not only have hindered the character’s arc and humor in this sequel because the point here is how much Virginia and family life helped him grow for the better, it would have also been unrealistic. It’s not that Happy has to be a different person entirely, but for the highs and lows Happy Gilmore has experienced between the two movies, he had to evolve. He showed inklings of his sweeter side when dealing with people he loved like his grandma and Virginia in the first movie. With a combination of older age, a good heart, and so many years of married life and kids being his focus, Happy changing to who he is now isn’t disrespecting the original, it’s a logical progression for the hero we know and love. It might be a bitter pill to swallow for diehard fans of the original, but this is the only way a sequel makes sense. That is why this older and wiser Happy is a well-written evolution of the protagonist. Though Happy went against the grain and the traditions of fundamental golf with his outbursts and unique style in the first movie, this older Happy in Happy Gilmore 2 has gotten past this younger phase in his life. Everything he has is because of the game of golf, including his family, his wife, his fame, and his money. Instead of actively pissing everyone off and having trouble conforming to the standards of golf like he did in the first movie, the first act of Happy Gilmore 2 shows audiences how he achieved all-timer status in the sport and came to appreciate it for what it is and what it has provided for him. Basically, he’s all grown up.

When he shows up at the Tour Champions Dinner, all the legends of golf greet him as a peer and one of the greatest to ever do it, and he’s as humble as can be, an energy the real-life Sandler gives off effortlessly and authentically. Not everyone knows this about Happy’s true self, which is why Frank Manatee thinks he could easily convince Happy to join the Maxi Golf League. As the main antagonist of this creative and attention-grabbing sequel, Frank stands as a well-written villain who in a meta-like way acknowledges the impact Happy has had on the sport of golf. In real life, the first Happy Gilmore has a big legacy and is considered by many in the golf community to be among their favorites. In-universe, it makes sense for Frank to sell Happy on the Maxi Golf League, as it’s a fair bet that Happy would be interested in something like it. Regardless of his financial situation by the time Frank approaches him, the rules and mainstream attempt to flip the game of golf upside down would be exactly the thing that the younger Happy would not only be interested in, but thrive in. However, that’s the difference. After all these years, Happy has grown out of his rebellious phase that brought hockey energy into its classy opposite of a sport. He appreciates what golf actually is, his place in its history, and considers all the professional peers he’s come into contact with his friends, including the commissioner he was at odds with in the first movie in Dennis Dugan’s Doug Thompson. After the journey life has taken Happy on and how much the sport has given him, he doesn’t want to give it the middle finger anymore. It’s not what Virginia would have wanted, and it’s not what he wants to do anymore now that he’s matured. Even in the day before the big match, Frank gives him one last chance. He tells Happy that he’s in the DNA of the Maxi Golf League and how beautiful it was with the way he rebelled against the traditions and fussiness of golf, offering him 10% of the company if he were to join.

Just when the viewer thinks he would consider it, Happy doubles down to prove how much of a changed man he is and how much this life has meant to him. He admits he can’t believe that he’s the one sticking up for tradition, but he details how Virginia liked the way golf was played as is, and “She was pretty much right about everything”. It’s a sweet statement delivered by Happy that further strengthens the ties between the first and second film even more. In the first movie, his relationship with Virginia isn’t an afterthought by any means, but it’s not a game-changing aspect of the story. In this sequel, Virginia is killed off in the opening sequence, but their handling of the character, how she’s integrated into the plot, and how much of an effect she had on Happy’s mindset and heart makes her presence stronger than what she was alive in the first movie, even though she has significantly less screentime and lines. Despite the loss, her memory is ingrained in Happy, and he refuses to fold, missing her and loving her every day and still adhering to her principals that changed his life for the better. It makes the first movie’s regular romantic angle into something truly special in this second one, which in turn retroactively raises the importance of how Happy and Virigina’s relationship was depicted in the first movie. It makes this simplicity of its predecessor mean that much more with how this sequel handles it. To pull this off by killing the character in a comedic manner but still making the aftermath that heartwarming is flat-out impressive if not damn near impossible. Seriously, the emotion felt in that seconds-long vision of Happy seeing Virginia standing there in the climax watching him and Happy imagining his grown adult children as if they were little kids again could bring a tear to the eye. It’s done that well. Still, they don’t shy away from who Happy was because this is part of the arc too, as Frank exists to remind the viewer of the original’s past legacy of Happy being the poster child of attitude and possessing a rebellious spirit that overcame the odds of old school golf traditionalists.

During this scene in the parking lot, Frank makes it known that Happy inspired his league and he vows to finish the revolution Happy indirectly started. At the same time, Happy finds it his duty to combat the Maxi Golf League because he has grown to comprehend that his antics and refusal to conform weren’t an attempt to change the sport but rather to succeed on his own terms. He also found out that he couldn’t keep going at the pace he was at, which is why Chubbs Peterson and Virginia’s influence helped him in maturing and changing for the better to improve his golf game and life in general. It’s the protagonist trying to shed the skin he was known for. In a lot of ways, Happy’s arc is reminiscent of Todd Phillips’ polarizing Joker: Folie à Deux, with the screenplay almost being written as if Phillips came to the realization about the influence Joker had on people, so he jackknifed everything in the sequel to prove a point about the protagonist. With Happy Gilmore 2, Happy now understands that he needs to kill the beast he helped create in the Maxi Golf League, so it doesn’t wrongly influence the next generation of golfers.

The biggest surprise coming out of Happy Gilmore 2 was Benny Safdie as the very funny antagonist Frank Manatee. He’s no Shooter McGavin, but he’s a strong enough villain to make this sequel worth it. There’s some stuff that shouldn’t work due to how ridiculous some of the details are like driving an electric Rolls Royce or donning an eyepatch, but Safdie’s committed performance makes it work. A perfect example of this is the recurring bad breath gag. It’s lame when Happy first brings it up, but every time they revisit the joke it gets funnier and funnier, like when Frank randomly brings it up in the aforementioned argument in the parking lot. He yells at Happy because he heard what he said about his breath to Bubba Watson. He argues that he has hereditary gingivitis, and he got it from his great grandfather, feigning an apology for it. This leads Happy to retort, “I’m literally smelling it from here, and the wind is blowing that way. Something has to change in your life. I’m telling you”. Arguably the funniest line of the movie comes from Safdie when after 8Ball (Bush) and another do the Ninja Warrior-like course in the middle of the game, Frank offers Happy a drink in front of everyone. After Oscar takes it and burps in Frank’s face, a cocky Frank had me cackling with, “We doing a breath contest? Yeah, I’d walk away too, pal”. Again, very rarely is something as corny as a bad breath joke funny, but this screenplay makes nearly all of it work through great performances and expert comedic writing and timing while maintaining a strong overall story. This is because though Sandler matures the protagonist and writes him much differently than how he was depicted as being in his younger years, he doesn’t forget about the core audience who still loves what he did in the first go-around. With this in mind, there’s still plenty of Happy’s signature attitude coming out at times, as how else would you react to the Jackass guy’s son, portrayed hilariously by Eminem (“Oh my GOODNESS!”)? That was a GENIUS casting decision. His overconfidence and talking about how he knows “a lot about fighting” and seeing Happy’s sons and stating, “There’s only 4 of you? You better go get some help!” was one of the funniest scenes of the movie.

Their shoehorning of more Eminem phrases once the alligators stepped in was overkill though.

Another great casting decision was Boban Marjanović playing Mr. Larson’s son. No one would have ever guessed that there was someone on this planet who could pass as Richard Keil’s son, but the stars aligned for this luck in casting to be possible. In doing so, it was yet another callback to the first movie that somehow worked, was legitimately funny, and didn’t make the sequel feel like a retread at all but rather a homage and a lovable continuation of the two-film franchise. At times, the number of celebrity cameos in Sandler’s last decade of comedies have gotten exhausting, but a majority of the star-studded cast clicked in their small appearances. Rob Schneider fit the “Happy Place” sequence, Steve Buscemi plays a crazy person better than most people and that doesn’t stop here, the podcast stars weren’t overly used and in fact added to the commercial marketing avenue Frank would have to go through to promote his league, and tidbits from Stephen A. Smith flipping out were amusing and added a sense of realism in making Happy Gilmore seem like this real-life sports star and media magnet. Even though Bad Bunny was given a much bigger role than expected, because it looks as if his role would end in the dinner scene with how the movie is structured around “Cameo City”, he actually shines in his low-key comedic supporting role. On top of that, enough real golfers were included and given some lines in key scenes out of respect for the sport and the legacy the movie has in general in regards to golf, wrestler MJF looks like he has a future in Hollywood with how confident and amusing he was as the eldest Gilmore son, and there was still enough room to fit in the obligatory John Farley and Jonathan Loughran roles. The only thing that was somewhat of a stretch was Margaret Qualley hanging out with Eric André and Martin Herlihy, as these three being a friend group that golfs together was just a tad unbelievable. Additionally, Travis Kelce’s inclusion was close to pushing it over the top. Other than that, the casting was strong, and everyone excluding Jon Lovitz gets a laugh. Real-life pro golfer Scottie Scheffler makes up for it though. His hockey punching the one guy and subsequent jail scenes were very funny.

Chubbs’s son Slim Peterson (Lavell Crawford) is somewhat of an unnecessary addition to the movie, but he even gets some laughs by mishearing some kids refer to “tentacles” of a squid on a mini-golf decoration being “testicles” and calling Haley Joel Osment a Cabbage Patch Kid, which he is. With Slim, it was also a great decision to not go through the dramatic route of him hating Happy for causing his father’s death, which apparently was in the original script for the sequel. Having Slim already accepted and forgiving him for it and helping Happy on his recovery to face the Maxi Golf League was a smoother detour to get to the third act. The waters were already being mucked up with so much going on and Happy already suffering so much grief that the story would have been pulled in one too many directions had they gone the original route (“Damn straight I ain’t never coming back you fine ass English hillbilly”).

The callbacks to the original weren’t a waste either. Happy Gilmore 2 does a great job at satisfying fans of the first movie while including enough flashbacks and such to the first movie to ensure new viewers aren’t lost on the jokes and characters they are referencing. It does extend the runtime somewhat, but it’s put there by design to help the new viewers along the way while also acknowledging the amount of time between the two films. Again, this is another thing that would usually overstuff a movie with too much, but the refresher was actually a solid touch that flowed nicer than expected. It may not have the re-watchability that the first film had because of it, but it does the trick for a sequel with such a long-awaited return. Additionally, these flashbacks also help make Will Zalatoris an unexpected source of hilarity, as he’s retconned into being the grown-up version of the blonde-haired caddie Happy beat the hell out of in the first film. He will literally have you laugh out loud when he speaks about the grudge he has against Happy to himself in private. That delivery of “son of a bitch” was flawless from a comedic standpoint. Speaking of callbacks and references to the first movie, extending Ben Stiller’s hilarious role as Hal L. and Robert Smigel’s lawyer character were also fantastic decisions that worked seamlessly. Seeing Sandler and Stiller face off in a comedy again rather than their recent slew of dramatic work was the nostalgia we needed because very few could beat those two in their primes. Stiller is just great at playing these maniac, ego-driven villains too. He was a standout in the smaller role he had in Happy Gilmore, so it was an absolute treat to see him return in something more substantial and drawn out, leading to an excellent, laugh-out-loud ending that dually works as a callback to the first one’s ending with Shooter McGavin being chased. With Shooter, seeing Christopher McDonald return to his greatest role instantly puts a smile on our faces. To this day, his role in the first Happy Gilmore will go down as one of the greatest movie villains of all time.

Because of this, there was some conflicting thoughts with how the character is handled here. Driven to insanity rather than having a strong golf career himself seems like a stretch, but it’s really funny how they insert Shooter into the story, so it kind of makes up for it. However, having the character turn a new leaf and helping Happy in the final battle just goes against the legacy of the character (“The greatest golfer of the 90s, except for me and Tiger?”). Then again, does it? You have to see how well they handle Shooter, as his arc between both movies is almost as strong as Happy’s. He’s still pissed off at Happy for ruining his life to open the movie, but seeing Shooter’s reaction once he hears Virginia died completely changes him and the viewer’s perspective of him. His snobbish demeanor and cutthroat attitude are emotionally affected, and you only see it for a slight moment. It’s just enough for the viewer to observe it in his face, as well as Frank’s uncaring delivery of the news to him. Shooter McGavin may have been a comical villain before who wouldn’t care in his younger years, but he too is affected by something like his bitter rival’s wife passing away. He knows she was innocent in the matter and is mature enough to some degree to know that this is much more serious than his petty vengeance. After getting to fight it out with Happy in the amusing cemetery scene and Shooter realizing that Frank is the real enemy, as Frank’s takedown of traditional golf supersedes his hatred of Happy, Shooter’s transformation upon going back to Happy’s homebase and aiding him and the pro team is an absolute joy to watch. It kicks the last part of the movie into high gear once McDonald finally settles in for the long haul. Had Shooter been on Frank’s side just to spite Happy, with Happy inevitably winning, wouldn’t have had the same effect. This was the right way to go, as it still gave Shooter a substantial role, it gave McDonald a chance to do something different in his performance, and it evolved the character into something more than just a straight villain. This was Sandler acknowledging Shooter’s impact, the talents of McDonald, and wanting to utilize both in a big way, and he did so in spades.

There is also no shortage of the old Shooter rising to the surface like him describing himself as the most successful golfer on the 90s or coaching the team by having them hit at moving targets and when Rory questions it, Shooter comically retorts with the utmost seriousness, “Damn it, Rory! Nothing’s off-limits for these commies!”. He’s still got it.

Along with Happy passing down his trademark aggressiveness and sophomoric humor to his 4 sons who pull it off to an amusing degree, there’s still plenty of classic Sandler humor like homeless Blake Clark playing with his nipples during the “Jukebox Hero” sequence (which is as hilarious as it sounds), Happy nearly killing Eric André, Margaret Qualley and Saturday Night Live‘s Martin Herlihy in the practice sequence, the batting cage practice where Oscar practically turns out to be a ninja (“Do you want breadsticks?”), Esteban being down for anything if he’s paid, a golfer going by the name of “Screech” but having no idea what Saved by the Bell was, the mental ward board member being caught up in the excitement and letting everyone free, and Hal stopping and making sure the girls are still washing his windows while he’s watching the final match. Besides this, there’s a great “father and sons” moment where Happy does his inspirational speech for his kids, the car stalls when he tries to go, and him and his sons beat the shit out of the car until it starts. This would have been gold by itself but having Steve Buscemi join in, prompting the sons to chase after him was laugh-out-loud funny. John Daly also stole the show just playing into his persona as an absolute trainwreck. If there ever is a Happy Gilmore 3, Daly better be in it. He was a natural comedic presence.

With the other facets of the feature, small details like Happy throwing the tee down perfectly and bouncing the ball on it was one of the most subtly cool things a golfer has ever done in the history of the sport, and the aforementioned, goosebumps-inducing climax that teetered on the emotional was a great raising of the stakes. Don’t be surprised when you find yourself holding your breath, as the buildup is that well done (“Gilmore can do this. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it”). The subtle nod of Happy telling Charlotte she’s a cool kid, and her replying that he’s a cool guy that reminds her of her dad was also a very heartwarming wink to the audience since we know it’s Sandler’s real-life daughter. The smile they share, the pause, and the looking away from each other after the conversation was everything, as was the callback to those who passed on in the final minute. Talk about a warm, fuzzy feeling. This is a sequel that will put a smile on your face.

Though real golfers and purists of the sport will probably scoff at this, the Maxi Golf League actually does look like a lot of fun. Even though part of the story at hand is Happy’s crusade to save the traditions of professional golf by taking on the evils of this loudmouth, fast-paced, early 2000s energy drink-type of take on the quiet and subdued sport, this nonsensical “chaos golf” that shits on everything the sport stands for looks like it would actually be worth watching on television on a regular basis. It’s kind of like Spike TV’s old show MXC but with higher production value and random celebrities like Guy Fieri and Post Malone getting the microphone from time to time (“Truly bitching to be here, Verne”). Giving the commentators the 1960s style suits, the players getting American Gladiator nicknames, the moving platform finish, the dune buggy riding while hitting, and shot clocks may be a slap in the face to the sport but outlandishly entertaining for casual viewers. They may have something here…

If this is the end of Happy Gilmore’s journey and the final image that we have of the iconic character is him walking into the sunset with his Subway-sponsored clubs, we can all still smile and be satisfied with this loving curtain call of a film. Adam Sandler’s return to one of his most famous roles in Happy Gilmore 2 was a gamble due to how much the first film meant to so many, but it was worth it. Hilarious, littered with an outstanding cast from top to bottom, and fueled by a well-rounded screenplay that manages to satisfy the slapstick crowd, fans of the original, and new viewers alike with some emotional elements and an exciting continuation of a story almost 30 years in the making, Happy Gilmore 2 gives audiences a newfound hope in legacy sequels just when they were about to give up on them entirely.

If there is a good enough story to tell and it’s done right, the fans will return. They will accept revisiting this world and risking their love of the original. Happy Gilmore 2 takes on the challenge head on and manages to succeed.