Happy Gilmore 2

I said, "so stupid," several times while watching Happy Gilmore 2. But I was laughing while I said that. So I can't even be mad at it. Comedy is subjective and some people will see this stupidity and cringe or roll their eyes. But it made me laugh repeatedly. And that's all I really care about with comedies.

Aside from the humor, so much about this movie shouldn't work. It's what people criticize as the problem with sequels and reboots these days. There is a huge focus on nostalgia and recreating moments from the original. There are tons of cameos and callbacks.

I can't explain why, but these usual problems somehow feel like they belong. Maybe it's the era this harkens back to. It doesn't feel forced even though it absolutely is.

I can't say this is a good movie, but in an age of comedy movie extinction, I had a good time with it.

(1 viewing, 7/27/2025)

I love Adam Sandler movies and I really wanted to love this movie. Sadly it's just not great. Shooter, Happy, and Hal L have bright spots but most of the jokes fell flat and the pacing was all over the place. The best way to describe this movie is a recycling of all the memorable jokes from the original but with worse delivery. Unfortunately Carl Weathers passed away so the story had to be rewritten. I would've rather seen a more grounded story with less cameos. The Sandman is still the GOAT and I'll watch every movie he makes.

The movie felt like a true follow up to the original for the first 20 or 30 minutes and I was excited to see where it would go, but it pretty quickly fell apart and degenerated into an aimless and unfunny mess as the film went on, starting with the golf course scene with the 3 millennials, all the jokes were awful and the whole sequence was total cringe.

It's like they had a vague idea of what to do but then lost the plot (literally) as time went on, only to finally bring it back around again at the very end of the movie. So much of the cameos were painfully unfunny and poorly acted, they should've done a lot more takes to make them work better and not feel so amateurish and lazy. I couldn't understand a damn thing Bad Bunny said. The pacing felt rushed and unnatural like so many modern Hollywood films, they've lost that magic touch especially when it comes to comedy films.

Sandler's a great dude in real life and I'll give it to him that he does justice to all the original cast who passed away at the end, which is exactly what I expected from him. But most of the middle of the movie is terrible and ruins it, the whole "super golfers" plot was cartoonish and mostly unfunny. If the script had got some rewrites for better jokes, plot, pacing, etc. It could've been one of the best legacy sequels, but alas we are left with this half baked mess.

I was actually quite looking forward to this and to be fair, it starts off pretty well. Loads of nostalgic references, a few funny slapstick moments that definitely felt familiar, and in a good way at first.

But yeah... it didn't really bring anything new to the table. Most of it relies on old jokes, random cameos, and throwing in a bunch of YouTubers. Not terrible, just kind of predictable. You can tell they weren't really trying to reinvent anything just giving fans more of what they remember.

That said, the nostalgia is still there. It was fun overall. I laughed a few times, had a decent time watching it, but it was never going to live up to the original. Still, worth a watch if you're a fan of the first one just keep your expectations in check.

The first Act is a depressing collection of cameos, including his entire immediate family, wife and two daughters. One of them goes all Sophia Coppola and has a major recurring role. You know that is not a good sign. The second Act is the Happy Gilmore we all came to see and it's great. The comeback montage / Rocky style tribute to Carl Weathers, his first time back on the real golf course, all the call backs and the new schtick, and now the cameos are fun. But then.......the WTAF third Act. "Regular" golf v Maxi golf was just stupid. Not Happy Gilmore silly, just stupid. And it ruined the whole thing.