He's one of the biggest characters in golf by a long shot! When he exploded — verbally and otherwise — on our screens nearly 30 years ago, Happy Gilmore became one of Adam Sandler’s best-loved characters. A sequel has been a long time coming, but at last he's back today [Friday, July 25] for another round on Netflix.
To quote a certain spectator in the original, Sandler's "jackass" style of comedy was front and centre in the 1996 comedy. His wannabe ice hockey player with neither the temperament nor the talent has to raise the money to prevent his grandmother from losing her home.
Discovering he can adapt his limited sporting abilities to golf, he takes on the professionals at their own game, but using less-than-familiar clubs.
His fiery temperament and unconventional style make him an overnight sensation, drawing in the crowds despite the objections of the golfing elite, and inevitably making him some powerful enemies.
In Happy Gilmore 2, he’s older but not a lot wiser. Still loud and crude, yet as likable as ever, he's forced out of retirement to pay for his daughter's ballet school. Not only does the storyline sound familiar, but many of the characters from the first film are back, from Ben Stiller (complete with Mexican-style tache) to Christopher McDonald’s arrogant Shooter McGavin, Hap’s golfing nemesis. And little has changed visually, as Happy takes pride in wearing hockey gear instead of the Pringle knits and polo shirts favoured by his opponents.
Audiences loved the original so much that they gave it 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Especially popular, aside from Sandler himself, were the multitude of cameos, both from the golfing and wider world. Lee Trevino was one of the most recognisable, and the follow-up has even more.
Trevino, now 85, is back, this time alongside Jack Nicklaus, and there’s also a clutch of today’s golfers, including Rory McIlroy and newly crowned Open champion Scottie Scheffler. Watch out, too, for fleeting glimpses of Margaret Qualley, Eminem, Uncut Gems director Benny Safdie, and Tim Herlihy, Sandler's writing partner.
One face that's sadly missing from the sequel is Carl Weathers, who played Chubbs Peterson, the golf pro who spots Happy’s talent. The actor died last year, just months before the film started shooting. Although the character met an untimely end in the original, he was due to play a substantial part in the follow-up. Sandler revealed in recent interviews that the story and the script had to be rewritten, but fans will be delighted to see warm tributes to the great Chubbs.
Happy Gilmore is a perennial Sandler favourite, although the likes of The Wedding Singer (1998) and Billy Madison (1995) rank high when it comes to making us laugh.
But there have been times when the jokes have fallen flat. Sandler's been personally nominated for no less than 25 Razzies and one of them was Worst Actor in Happy Gilmore. He didn't win. But it got worse. Jack And Jill (2011) was nominated in all 12 categories and is the only film in cinema history to sweep the board, with Sandler’s name on six trophies, including Worst Actor, Worst Actress, and Worst Screen Couple.
He's regarded as something of a regular at the annual antidote to the Oscars.
But there’s another side to his work, one that you’d think belonged to somebody else. Despite just a handful of dramatic roles, he’s clearly a powerful straight actor and one who's already received awards recognition. He's yet to receive an Oscar nomination — many believe he was robbed of one for Uncut Gems (2019) — but
Critics' Choice, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, and SAG nods have all come his way. And most of them were for the Safdie brothers’ frenetic drama about a jeweller who finds himself under intolerable pressure. In a movie that was both thrilling and exhausting, his performance left audiences stunned by a piece of acting that was a million miles away from his usual style. The praise for his manic turn flooded in, and the movie scored 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Yet, nearly 20 years before, he’d already astonished in a more downbeat role. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002), he was the self-loathing Barry, dominated by his overbearing sisters, socially inept, and deeply lonely. His efforts to widen his world lead him to call a sex line, but it threatens to land him in deep trouble and potentially spells the end of what could be a relationship with the mysterious
Lena (Emily Watson). Audiences and critics alike saw for the first time that there was more to him than comedy.
And there was another glimpse to come in 2017’s The Meyerowitz Stories. Noah Baumbach’s ensemble drama took a bittersweet look at a dysfunctional New York family coming together to celebrate the father’s artistic career. This time he was in starry company, including Dustin Hoffman, Adam Driver, Emma Thompson, and regular collaborator, Ben Stiller, who played his more extrovert brother.
For now, Sandler is in his happy place, making us laugh, but he’ll be back in a more dramatic setting towards the end of the year in Netflix’s much-anticipated Jay Kelly, which reunites him with Baumbach. Boasting another ensemble cast including George Clooney, Greta Gerwig, and Jim Broadbent, it’s already tipped as an early Oscar contender, showing just how easily Sandler moves from comedy to drama.
Surely it’s only a matter of time before he gets the award recognition he deserves. It's how he wins.
Happy Gilmore 2 is on Netflix in the US and the UK now along with the original movie.
Uncut Gems is on Prime Video in the US and on Netflix in the UK.
Punch-Drunk Love is on Prime Video in the US and the UK.
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