Reviewing the Long-Awaited "Happy Gilmore 2"

My name is Clyde E. Dawkins. The "E" stands for Earl, my actual middle name. Though as I love to say, my middle name is patience. I've been accustomed to waiting a long time for things I've wanted to see so badly. I waited 15 years for a pennant. I waited 21 years for a Stanley Cup. And added to that list: I waited 29 years for a sequel to an iconic comedy classic.

On February 16, 1996, Happy Gilmore hit theaters. Think about how long ago that was. Back then, Adam Sandler was just getting started in the "big movie" scene after his five-year tenure on Saturday Night Live came to an end. I was barely over a month away from turning 11. And given Happy's hockey connection, I have to add this: the Colorado Avalanche's first season in Denver after moving from Quebec was being played, and it ended with a Stanley Cup just under four months later.

We all know the story about that film: prospect hockey player turned golfer makes good, big time. Happy's foray into golf started as a necessity; a quest to save his grandmother's house from being foreclosed on. Of course, Happy had his obstacles--one of them famously being Bob Barker, though his main foe was Shooter McGavin, who had been looking to finally capture that gold jacket. Happy also had his allies, not just his grandma and Chubbs Peterson, but also Virginia Venit as well.

We all know how it ended for Happy in that film; he got the gold jacket, he got the girl, and he saved the house. Happy Gilmore went on to become one of Sandler's greatest films, alongside a film he did a year prior, Billy Madison. In fact, Sandler's production company, Happy Madison, is named after both films. Sandler has made so many comedy classic since then, but in all that time, fans were eagerly awaiting a sequel to this 1996 classic. Sandler himself said in 2022 that he would love to do a sequel, and two years later, Christopher McDonald, who played antagonist Shooter McGavin, stated that a sequel was in the works. An actual sequel was in the works! Oh happy day!

So after over a year of rumors, casting news, teasers, and trailer, the long awaited sequel, Happy Gilmore 2, hit Netflix on July 25, 2025. Sandler and Netflix have had a relationship for about a decade now, but clearly, this was the biggest of Sandler's Netflix releases.

So let's talk about this film, shall we? Heads up, I will give some spoilers, not a lot, but some:

So what has Happy Gilmore been up to in the near three decades that have passed. Not surprisingly, he and love interest Virginia Venit tied the knot, and had five kids--four sons and a daughter. In addition, Happy's golf career continued to flourish after his big win over Shooter McGavin in 1996, and the endorsements continued coming in. It was safe to say that life was pretty good for Happy Gilmore.

But as the man himself said in his life story 29 years ago, "Life is full of surprises."

So yeah, they killed off Virginia. I read the reviews after watching this; a lot of fans raged over this. I didn't. I saw this coming. From the way that Julie Bowen was shown in the trailer, something in the back of my mind asked, "Virginia's dead, isn't she?" I have Zoolander 2 to thank for that theory; as the sequel killed off Christine Taylor's character early in the film. So yeah, as the opening montage showed, Happy's long range shot accidentally struck and killed Virginia, and that took his love of the game away, being replaced with a big drinking habit.

It's not until Vienna, Happy's lone daughter out of all of his offspring (played by one of Sandler's real-life daughters, Sunny Sandler), has aspirations regarding her ballet dancing, that Happy returns to the links. And the tone is set for this sequel.

So it looks like we have a new villain in this story: Frank Manatee, the CEO of Maxi Drinks Corporation, approached Happy during his job at a grocery store to join him. Happy refuses, and decks Mr. Douche Nozzle for running his mouth too much. The face behind the character is one that Sandler's familiar with. Frank Manatee's played by none other than Benny Safdie, who co-directed Sandler in Uncut Gems, which was an amazing as hell film.

So if Frank's the new baddie, where did that leave...?

Regarding Shooter McGavin, well, to say that he didn't take the loss to Happy well would be an understatment that's bigger than the gap between the two films. When we first see Shooter in this film, he's in psychiatric care. He's freed by Manatee, who wants to make him the face of Maxi's golf program, but upon seeing what they're doing to the game, Shooter runs off. This leads to the confrontation that is 29 years in the making. Happy and Shooter never threw hands in the first film, but they finally had it out (as the trailer promised) in this film, and it was quite the scene.

Let's talk about the cameos, shall we? The wrestling fan in me has to start with the wrestling-related guest spots, and the first one to appear in the film was Maxwell Jacob Friedman, who played Gordie Gilmore, the eldest o Happy's offspring. No shock that MJF showed out in this film, just as he does for All Elite Wrestling, and I can see him doing a lot more films after this one; count on it!

What I loved about the wrestler cameos was that it was AEW and WWE together; the two companies who are each other's biggest competition came together in this sequel. MJF's appearance was promoted. So was Becky Lynch's, with the reigning Women's Intercontinental Champion (credited under her real name, Rebecca Quin) appearing as Flex, the lone female member of Maxi's team. She wasn't the only female WWE star in this, as Flex's caddy was played by none other than WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella (credited as Nicole Garcia). So that's three wrestlers in this; four if you count Bad Bunny (credited under his real name, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio).

The cameos don't even come close to ending there. Among others: Stephen A. Smith, Emimem, NBA player Boban Marjanović, three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, the WNBA's Kelsey Plum, and a number of golf legends. The film had so many callbacks as well, and also brought back Dennis Dugan (the first film's director) as Doug Thompson, and Ben Stiller returned as abusive orderly Hal L., who was uncredited in the first film, but actually reprised the role in Hubie Halloween, which also co-starred Sandler and Julie Bowen.

I've been an Adam Sandler fan for 30 years. The fandom became diehard after his Longest Yard film came out. Regarding this sequel, I laughed... a lot. I also cried... a lot. The emotion comes from years of knowing what great things Sandler continues to bring to the table, as well of years of seeing him disrespected so much without any merit. Adam Sandler should have a plethora of Oscars. His stuff is better than most of the overrated junk that gets nominated.

I expected so much goodness from Happy Gilmore 2, yet I ended up getting so much more than that. This sequel gave me more than everything I wanted. It was peak and classic Adam Sandler turned up to 1000. I loved this film so so much, and I think it's about high time that Adam Sandler gets his flowers... a whole bunch of them.