Happy Gilmore 2 (2025): A Back Nine Full of Nostalgia and Knee Braces

Revisit Happy Gilmore's golf career after his win in the Tour Championship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKzRPFvky9Y

Let me just start by saying - some movies age like fine wine, and others age like milk left out on a Florida golf cart in July. “Happy Gilmore 2” is neither. It’s more like rediscovering that same crusty gym bag from 1996, opening it, and instead of gagging, going, “Hey, not bad. Smells like nostalgia and a faint whiff of Bengay.”

Yes, folks. Happy is back. Older. Slower. Angrier? Hard to tell. It’s Adam Sandler, and by now his expressions come in only two modes: “confused yelling” and “sleepy grin.” But bless him, because when the opening credits rolled and that chugging guitar riff played, I felt something in my soul stir - either emotion or indigestion. Tough to say. I had chili.

Plot? Sure. It Exists.

The movie picks up years after Happy’s improbable win at the Tour Championship, and guess what? Life hasn’t exactly been a back nine picnic. Golf’s gotten corporate, the players are robotic, and Happy’s still swinging like he’s trying to murder the ball for something it said about his mother. That’s not a critique, by the way - that’s the magic.

Julie Bowen reprises her role as Virginia, now married to Happy with a golf-obsessed son who’s basically a human wedge. Christopher McDonald returns as Shooter McGavin - older, less mobile, but still has a punchable face you could spot from the moon. Bless that man’s commitment to being a smarmy weasel. I hope he gets paid in Rolexes and scotch.

Cameos So Thick, You'll Think It’s a SNL Afterparty

I lost count around the 40th cameo. Golfers, actors, musicians, former presidents (okay, that might’ve just been a lookalike). Seventy-eight cameos in total - yes, someone actually counted. If you blink, you’ll miss Phil Mickelson eating a burrito in a sand trap. Post Malone shows up wearing more tattoos than clothes, and Eminem literally takes over as a son of someone you might remember for no reason other than, I guess, being Eminem with horrible facial hair.

Do they all add anything to the plot? Absolutely not. But that’s not the point. The movie feels like Adam Sandler threw a party, got everyone slightly buzzed, and rolled film. And honestly? That chaotic vibe kinda works at times, but sometimes it shanks it.

Physical Comedy: Still Funny or Has the Cart Crashed?

The physical gags are vintage Sandler. Someone gets hit in the crotch every 12 minutes. There’s a scene involving crashing carts, a reunion of old characters in a brawl, and carnage that had me cackling like a drunk goose. It’s dumb. It’s lowbrow. And sometimes, that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

But - and this is a big “but” - some gags wear out their welcome faster than Travis Kelce’s acting range. Look, I love the guy as a tight end. He can run routes and win rings. But dramatic delivery? Not so much. He delivers lines like he’s reading a playbook in Mandarin. I half-expected Patrick Mahomes to show up and call timeout.

Sandler’s Loyalty, The Real MVP

Now here’s where the film earns its heart: Carl Weathers, who played Chubbs in the original, passed away before the sequel. Instead of shoehorning him in via deepfake horror or AI voice clone - because nothing says “friendship” like zombified CGI - Sandler did the classy thing. He rewrote the entire script to honor Carl and left the role untouched. No gimmicks, no replacements. That, folks, is a genuine move in a business built on replacing people with algorithms.

The Not-So-Happy Bits

Despite the laughter and warmth, the movie drags its golf cleats through some soggy sand traps. The story - if we’re being generous calling it that - spends too much time rehashing old gags and leaning on nostalgia like an uncle who still talks about high school. The jokes? Funny at first. Then tired. Then coma-inducing. We get it - Happy can’t putt. Moving on.

The third act tries to build emotional depth, but it lands with all the grace of a walrus falling down a spiral staircase. The pacing slows, the cameos keep coming at an exhausting rate, and suddenly we’re supposed to care about Happy’s legacy and the state of modern golf? Buddy, I came for slapstick and insults, not a TED Talk on sports culture.

Final Score: 5.5/10

Like a par on a 5-hole - technically respectable, but nothing you’d brag about. “Happy Gilmore 2” is a chaotic, cameo-stuffed, occasionally hilarious love letter to a simpler time when comedies didn’t need plot arcs, just a guy with a temper and a hockey stick. It’s flawed, yes - but it’s silly fun. Sometimes that’s enough.

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