August 3, 2025 · Watch the official trailer
It’s an ambitious gamble to resurrect a beloved 90s comedy for a sequel nearly three decades later.
Netflix, in a decade long partnership with comedian Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison production company, has milked the family friendly actor for an assortment of marginal movies that leverage his marketability with underwhelming narratives.
Yet it’s only now ten-plus years into their cinematic marriage that Sandler and Netflix have broken into the vault of his comedic roots, returning to the links this summer with “Happy Gilmore 2,” which seeks to leapfrog off the success of the irreverent 1996 original and its infamous hockey-stick-wielding golf prodigy.
However, what unfolds is a testament to the traps of nostalgia bait without authentic creativity or humor. Rather than delivering a fresh or even satisfyingly silly follow-up, the misguided sequel stumbles into a trap of its own making with endless callbacks, an exhausting parade of celebrity cameos, and a lead performance that feels curiously disengaged from the comic spirit that made the original a cult favorite.
Audiences expecting to see their titular hero make good on the promise from the original’s ending will be disappointed with the decision of Sandler and his co-writer Tim Herlihy to a shell of himself, saddled with alcohol addiction due to personal tragedy.
While this semi-serious tone would prove fruitful ground for exploration, it doesn’t work tonally with the overly irreverent comedy that “Happy Gilmore 2” is and Sandler is never given enough room to ruminate on the regret and shame his Happy feels.
From the opening credits, it’s clear that this sequel is more interested in revisiting the past than carving out a new comedic legacy, especially with the insistence of director Kyle Newacheck to splice in clips from the 1996 original to emphasize callbacks.
Relying on the same jokes told in a different order might have worked in the grand scheme of the film if things felt less forced for fan service.
Unfortunately, "Happy Gilmore 2" is so preoccupied with winking at its audience that it forgets to deliver new reasons to laugh. Instead of building on Happy’s backstory, the screenplay lazily repeats it, hoping recognition will pass for wit. There are, of course, new characters and digs at the LIV golf tour to justify Happy’s return, but only to provide a shoddy framework for streaming service fodder.
“Happy Gilmore 2” also suffers from a relentless desire to make short clips from the film something “meme”-worthy, causing the entire project to be a disjointed mess narratively and jam-packed with celebrity cameos meant to be Easter eggs for repeat viewings that fall flat due to overuse.
Somewhere in the ensemble cast that includes Benny Safdie as the world’s worst businessman, “Space Jam” levels of pro golfers, Travis Kelce, a half dozen “Saturday Night Live” alums and Sandler’s entire family, the secret gem of the entire movie – Sandler included – is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known as the rapper Bad Bunny, who steals scenes routinely as the wonderfully naïve waiter-turned-caddie Oscar.
His comic timing, first seen as a host on “SNL,” remains impeccable here and is a perfect blend of aloof and earnestness in a role actually designed to add value to the overall narrative, quite the rarity in the film.
This endless cavalcade of guest stars adds an unnecessary half hour to the film’s runtime, contributing nothing meaningful to the story or to the comedy.
It’s content for content’s sake, a self-indulgent exercise that interrupts whatever sliver of momentum the film manages to muster.
“Happy Gilmore 2” is unsurprisingly the number one film on Netflix since its release late last month, though fans of the original hoping for a truly funny or inventive sequel will leave disappointed.
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