REVIEW: ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Earns More Shrugs Than Laughs

Legacy sequels show no sign of slowing down, so it was inevitable that superstar comedian Adam Sandler would get in on the trend. Happy Gilmore 2 seemed like as safe a bet as any, with Sandler jumping back into his iconic role as the titular hot-head failed hockey player turned golf pro, surrounded by a heavy helping of Sandler’s friends and collaborators. And that’s exactly what Netflix‘s straight-to-streaming sequel is: safe.

Coming nearly 30 years after Happy Gilmore, there are some laughs to be had in the belated sequel. For the most part, though, Happy Gilmore 2 leans so heavily on recycled jokes from the original that it elicits the feeling of rewatching a favorite comedy too many times; comforting, sure, but growing stale. 

After an accident halts the golf career of Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler), he resigns himself to working a job at the local supermarket and drinking through the pain. When his daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) expresses interest in attending an expensive ballet school, Happy decides to get back on the golf circuit to reclaim his former glory with the help of old rival Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald). Happy’s momentum is slowed by energy drink mogul Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie), whose “extreme” reinvention of the sport into the more fast-paced Maxi Golf forces Gilmore and McGavin to adapt to the times. 

Happy Gilmore 2 hits repeat rather than move the story forward. 

At the outset, the Happy Gilmore 2 script repeats a cardinal sin of comedy sequels. Rather than progress the adventures of Happy Gilmore in any meaningful way, Sandler and co-writer Tim Herlihy (Hubie Halloween) opt instead to reset his journey entirely, essentially leading to a remixed version of the plot of the original. The biggest casualty of this, by far, is Julie Bowen.

After the team behind the film had emphasized the return of the Modern Family actress in the significant role as Happy’s love interest, Virginia, that turns out to have been a huge misdirect, as she’s quickly written out of the movie. Moreover, Benny Safdie’s baffling antagonist Frank is more than anything a less-appealing stand-in for the villainous role Shooter McGavin played in the original, while Happy’s anger is swapped out for dealing with alcoholism.

Playing the hits in a different font can work. And it almost does here. Director Kyle Newacheck is certainly seasoned in the comedy realm due to his work on the cult comedy series Workaholics and the severely underrated Netflix original film Game Over, Man!.

Adam Sandler delivers his low-brow comedy charm with ease. 

Meanwhile, Sandler can do his brand of affable low-brow comedy in his sleep and, as expected, he remains charming throughout. Newacheck and Sandler are a decent team together, and when Happy Gilmore 2 is allowed to have its jokes, it can be very funny.

A running gag involving Happy using different items as secret alcohol containers and Christopher McDonald evolving Shooter McGavin into an unhinged mess is quite inspired. The same goes for a surprising supporting turn from global superstar Bad Bunny as a waiter turned caddy who does an excellent job, yet can’t shake the habit of asking Happy if he needs “breadsticks or water”. The inclusion of Bad Bunny, unfortunately, does portend a baffling trend of celebrity cameos in this film that are unnecessary. 

Did you want to see The Substance‘s Margaret Qualley in a Happy Gilmore sequel? Not really? Well, too bad, she’s here! Let’s go ahead and throw in comedian Lavell Crawford as the son of Happy’s mentor Chubbs from the original. How about Eminem cameoing as the son of the guy who yelled “Jackass!” at Happy in the first movie? The latter two cameos are particularly egregious because they’re in the service of reprising jokes audiences are already well familiar with from the first one. 

The Netflix sequel has heart, but that isn’t enough. 

Without fail, nearly every single joke from the original gets repeated here, only with less energy. Superimposing someone’s face onto a ball, a shot of Happy’s grandma wearing a KISS mask, even Ben Stiller’s orderly turned AA group leader abusing his power; they’re all here, and they’re all, for the most part, unnecessary.

It’s a shame, because, like most Sandler comedies, regardless of quality, there’s a heart here that makes it difficult to really actively dislike. Good intentions do not a good movie make, and the laziness of having to remind people that, yes, Happy Gilmore and its jokes existed makes the film more flat than it should’ve been. 

There was a point in time when it seemed that Sandler was breaking big into a dramatic acting career with the release of Uncut Gems in 2019. It seems these days that Sandler is more comfortable slipping back into his old, familiar, laid-back comedies. Happy Gilmore 2 is perhaps the most autopilot version of an “Adam Sandler” comedy. It’s okay to pass the time with, sure. When all is said and done, however, there’s going to be more shrugs than laughs had.

Happy Gilmore 2 is now streaming on Netflix.