Happy Gilmore 2 Review

Netflix greenlit the sequel in May 2024, nearly thirty years after Universal released the first film, with Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy writing again and Kyle Newacheck directing. The setup is darker than anything in 1996: one of Happy's drives kills his wife, Virginia (Julie Bowen), and he spends the next decade drinking. The film plays it as a sight gag and mostly gets away with it.

Christopher McDonald's Shooter McGavin, freed from a psychiatric hospital, is the best thing in it, and Benny Safdie is broad but funny as Frank Manatee, the energy drink boss whose Maxi Golf league is a plain swipe at LIV. Bad Bunny is easy company as Happy's caddie, Ben Stiller's Hal is back running a sobriety group, and John Daly lives in the garage. After that it turns into a parade of pro golfers and celebrities playing themselves, and the cameos crowd out the jokes.

Zak Mulligan's photography is bright and flat. Critics split, 52 on Metacritic, with Richard Roeper crediting its sheer stupid energy, and it drew 46.7 million views in its first three days, which was always the point.