Lamar Reviews - "Happy Gilmore 2" (Airdate 8/1/2025)

Happy Gilmore 2

The 1996 Happy Gilmore is considered a modern comedy classic that people are still quoting lines from. It is also the movie that turned Adam Sandler into a movie star. 29 years later we get a sequel. Since we last saw Happy life has been great, he won 6 tour championships, tons of endorsement deals, gold jackets, and a family that consists of four rowdy hockey playing sons, who act just like their dad, and one daughter who is a promising ballerina. And his beautiful wife, pro-tour PR director Virginia Venit, played Julie Bowen. Things took a turn, and he lost everything, and for the last 10 years he’s been working at a grocery store and is constantly drinking. His daughter Vienna, played by his actual daughter Sunny Sandler, has a chance to attend a prestigious ballet school in Paris, but it costs $75,000 a year. The only chance to make that kind of money is to do what he’s best at, play golf. That is one part of the story, the other part of the story is about a rich energy drink manufacturer named Frank Manatee, played by Benny Safdie, who has come up with a rival renegade golf league. Can Happy make a comeback and play golf again?

The movie is an hour 54 minutes, Rated PG-13 for strong language, crude/sexual material, partial nudity and some thematic material. Sandler had planned a big part for Carl Weathers, they had talked a lot about it and Carl was excited, then he passed away. They had to rewrite a lot of the movie. There are a lot of nice references to how great Chubbs, the character Carl played was in the movie. This movie is dedicated in memoriam to the following people, Bob Barker, Carl Weathers, Frances Bay that played Grandma, Richard Kiel who played Mr. Larson, and Joe Flaherty, who played Donald, all who appeared in the first Happy Gilmore.

The entire Sandler family makes appearances in this film. His daughter Sunny, her older sister Sadie, and Adam’s wife Jackie. There are clips that appear as flashbacks, which show all of the actors that were in the movie that have passed away. Also, their names are written on tombstones in cemetery where Happy Gilmore and Shooter McGavin, played by Christopher McDonald meet up. The cameos are endless Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny, golfers-Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, John Daley, actor Steve Buscemi, and more, a total of 60.

Happy Gilmore 2 plays the right homage to the 96 original, and all the people who were in it. The plot is just as silly as the first one, but different enough to feel fresh. If you like the first one, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

My Score: 4 Budweisers