Film Review: Happy Gilmore 2 Is More Fun Than You'd Think

In a world where I’ve continued to utter the phrase “we need to stop making legacy sequels to films”, Happy Gilmore 2 may be the biggest contradiction to this statement. This is a movie that in no way needed any kind of sequel, yet proved to be entirely charming. It uses the nostalgia well, and despite being thirty minutes longer than the first film from 1996, it is entertaining to watch. If you’re not a fan of Adam Sandler’s humor, dating all the way back to films like Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and Little Nicky that made up a healthy dosage of comedy in the 1990s, you’re most likely not going to be a fan of Happy Gilmore 2. Sandler is hit or miss for me with his films, but this one worked for me.

Happy Gilmore (Sandler) - the aspiring hockey player turned pro golfer among the ranks of Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods - has had an eventful twenty years. He married Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen), the pro golf tour PR specialist from the first film, and they had a whopping five kids. Hardships (which I won’t divulge here) led Happy to hit the bottle, causing him to lose his grandmother’s home, and vowing him to never pick up a golf club ever again.

Naturally, something occurs that causes him to step back on the putting green - his daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) needs money to go to a royal dance academy in Paris. To get over $300,000 to pay for the tuition, Happy decides to give golf a try once more. After a few rough tries, he returns back his old stomping grounds to try and win the prize money. Seems similar enough, right?

What differentiates it from the original is that traditional golf is being threatened by Maxi Golf, a new form of the sport that is brash, outlandish, and loud - seemingly inspired by Gilmore’s behavior on the course back in the 90s, as told to him by brand owner Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie), who wants Happy to join the team and elevate it. Gilmore turns him down, which leads Manatee to turn into a version of the autocratic tech-bros we’ve come to know over these last few years, the ones who feel that just by throwing money at a problem, it fixes everything. This leads Safdie to get Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald, probably the best part of the film) released from the mental institution he’s been holed up in over the last twenty years after suffering defeat at the end of the first film.

A lot unfolds throughout these two hours, and the plot and reasoning for character motivations change on a dime, but that’s not the point of this film. Sandler likes to put together big movies like this as a reason to get all of his friends together to have a fun time on the set. There are maybe a hundred different celebrity cameos throughout this film, ranging from the sports world (sportscasters Dan Patrick and Stephen A. Smith, goldfer Jack Nicklaus, former NFL player Reggie Bush, and current NFL player Travis Kelce), to the music world (Bad Bunny, Post Malone, Kid Cudi, Andrew Watt) to the random (Ken Jennings, Guy Fieri, Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino). My favorite cameo is the son of the heckler from the first heckler played by Joe Flaherty in the first film. I will not disclose who it is, but I audibly laughed when he appeared on screen.

For a film that leans into absurdist humor, there’s a lot of heart in Happy Gilmore 2. I was surprised by the meditation on grief and working through traumatic memories in this film; they were handled with a balance of grace and humor that I don’t think I’ve ever seen from a Sandler movie. Adam Sandler is an incredibly capable actor, whether in dramatic or comedic roles, but this felt like the first time I’ve seen him tread the line so well.

Look, this isn’t going to win Oscars, nor is it trying to. But is it a fun callback to the first movie that doesn’t feel like a mindless cash grab? You bet your ass it is. I smiled far more than I thought I would in Happy Gilmore 2.

Release Date: July 25th, 2025
Rated: PG-13 (for strong language, crude-sexual material, partial nudity, and some thematic elements)
Running Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Directed by: Kyle Newacheck
Screenplay by: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Produced by: Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Jack Giarraputo, Robert Simonds

Starring: Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, John Daly, Ben Stiller