Why Happy Gilmore 2 Broke out in Canada (2 of 2)

When a movie features a tonne of cameos, it often serves as a lazy device to draw the audience’s attention to the film without having to bother with a coherent plot. But being that Happy Gilmore 2 is a golf movie, it finds a way to work. It is a sport where celebrities are spotted all the time anyway, and celebrity cameos were key to making the original so enjoyable. It comes as no surprise that the movie would feature prominent golf stars like Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, but it was really John Daly who stole the movie. We also get to witness Bad Bunny’s impressive acting chops as Oscar, Happy’s busboy-turned-bagman. Scheffler has a few lines that hit the mark. Jack Nicklaus makes a joke that you already know the punchline to, but you’ll find it funny anyway.

Perhaps the highest praise the movie gets is in its highly topical jab at LIV Golf. There is a running gag throughout the movie where it takes aim at the controversial tour, referring to it as the “clown league.” The irony becomes rich in the second part of the movie when you realize Bryson DeChambeau and Bubba Watson are current members of the faltering league.

The movie’s flaws

We discover a dark bombshell at the beginning of the film, along with Gilmore’s struggles with alcohol as a result, which are played for laughs. I’m not typically offended by this kind of thing, but using alcohol abuse as a vehicle for hocking alcohol products is objectively tasteless.

Another issue is that while all sequels pay tribute by featuring callbacks that the most devoted fans will appreciate, the movie tries too hard to provide context for those who have never seen the original. As a result, there are several flashback clips that really threw me off.

Benny Safdie and Haley Joel Osment are talented actors, but their characters just don’t work. Safdie plays Frank Manatee, the main antagonist in the film, and the ongoing joke about bad breath just comes off as lame. Meanwhile, Osment portrays an up-and-coming golf star meant to serve as Happy’s tormentor. It just wasn’t funny.

But Happy Gilmore 2’s main problem is that it is nearly two hours long, or a bit more than 20 minutes longer than the original. It strikes the right balance between silly and touching for most of the film, but for those final 20 minutes it goes all in on both aspects, and the results are chaotic. Although the movie does return to “normal” in the closing scenes of the movie, the ridiculous route it took to get there is impossible to ignore.

In spite of these problems, the movie is an absolute must-see if you are a fan of Sandler movies and want to take a nostalgic trip to Memory Lane. There are genuine moments when you’ll laugh, and the film serves as a good distraction from the stresses of life.