Golf ball-sized spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Happy Gilmore 2 with a Netflix subscription.
Happy Gilmore may not be considered among the best sports movies in existence, and probably wouldn’t even top lists limited to those starring Adam Sandler, which is an admission I make with abundant wincing. I adore it nonetheless, and perhaps naively had little doubts the character’s return would be just as excellent — an opinion our Happy Gilmore 2 review supports. So I wasn’t exactly surprised to spend the whole runtime laughing, but was surprised by who earned a lot of those laughs.
Because several major cast members passed away after the O.G. comedy’s release — with Carl Weathers’ death sparking late-stage rewrites — Happy Gilmore 2 pays tribute to beloved characters who could not return, while bringing back essentially everyone who could, from Kevin Nealon’s Gary Potter to Dennis Dugan’s Doug Thompson to Shooter McGavin himself, Christopher McDonald. Yet it’s somehow a larger-than-expected supporting role from a real-life golfer that stole the show for me.
Steve Buscemi’s weirdo neighbor character, or otherwise, Daly is far more of a supporting character than I ever would have predicted. Whlie I thought he’d be relegated to the banquet scene with all dozens of other real-life golfers appearing, Daly instead became an all-time great Sandler co-star.
Making the role all the more baffling is the fact John Daly has been candid about his real-life struggles with alcoholism throughout his career and much of his adult life, which adds a strange layer to all the jokes about Happy’s own boozing. Not to mention his endless supply of secret flasks throughout the house, which Daly makes attempts to seek out while also pumping hand sanitizer into his mouth. I can’t explain why it’s so funny for that specific act to punctuate a scene, but it works.
It all works, in fact, to the point where I now won’t be too surprised if Adam Sandler gets John Daly back for whatever his next Happy Madison movie is. Maybe he can be brothers with Blake Clark’s homeless beachcomber.
SNL‘s Marcello Hernandez) as his own caddy is enough to make me start giggling. As is Esteban’s extreme generosity after it’s clear he won’t be anyone’s caddy.
I don’t know if we’ll get to see any further adventures from Happy Gilmore & Co., but I’m grateful that all involved took the time to make sure this long-awaited sequel was worthy of the wait. Also, if there ever IS another sequel, maybe it’ll be one where Ben Stiller’s Hal L. swallows a grenade and explodes.