by Tim Gordon
Happy Gilmore 2 tries to be both a victory lap and a fresh tee-off, but mostly lands somewhere in the rough.
Three decades after his unlikely rise from hockey reject to golf’s most chaotic hero, Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore has grown older, but not necessarily wiser. Now a single dad to five kids, Happy has lost his wife, his house, and much of his trademark swagger. Rock bottom has never looked quite this suburban. But when his eldest daughter shows promising talent as a dancer with expensive tuition bills to match, Happy finds himself dusting off his clubs and heading back to the green for one last shot, this time with family on the line.
The film uses real-life tensions in professional golf, the PGA vs. LIV rivalry, as a satirical backdrop, positioning Happy as the ultimate “PGA OG,” the weathered hero for a new generation of golfers who hit harder, train smarter, and party even wilder. The Maxi Golfers, a group of long-driving phenoms with cartoonishly big personalities, threaten to make traditional golf obsolete, leading to a bizarre but strangely entertaining “seven-hole gladiator course” that serves as the film’s climactic showdown.
Sandler clearly had fun gathering familiar faces. Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) returns as Happy’s eternal nemesis, still petty, still scheming, and still delivering one-liners like he’s been waiting thirty years for this rematch. Nearly every side character from the 1996 film pops up for a cameo: Ben Stiller’s sadistic nursing home attendant, Allen Covert’s perpetually stoned caddie, and even the iconic alligator makes an appearance. The nostalgia is so heavy-handed it’s almost a game of “spot the reference.”
LaVell Crawford steps into a new mentor role, spiritually channeling the late Carl Weathers’ Chubbs as Happy’s voice of reason and occasionally, his sparring partner. Crawford’s scenes provide some of the film’s few genuinely fresh laughs, balancing absurd pep talks with moments of unexpected warmth.
But for all the cameos, callbacks, and crowd-pleasing winks, Happy Gilmore 2 feels padded and tired. Much of the humor is recycled, the “Happy loses his temper” gag is played to death, and the new jokes rarely land with the same energy as the original. The emotional arc, with Happy trying to prove himself as a father and find redemption, is a smart idea on paper, but it keeps getting buried under slapstick tangents and celebrity cameos.
Sandler, now in his late fifties, brings a softer, wearier Happy to the screen, which works in quieter moments but undercuts the manic energy that made the original so iconic. There’s an occasional spark — a drive that goes impossibly far, a one-liner that makes you snort, but too often the film feels like it’s coasting on nostalgia rather than swinging for new laughs.
Ultimately, Happy Gilmore 2 is a nostalgia trip that longtime fans may enjoy for its cameos and callbacks, but it rarely finds a fresh comedic groove. It’s a sequel that hits the ball but not very far.
Grade: C-