Adam Sandler’s iconic pro golfer, Happy Gilmore, finally returns to screens after 29 long years, as Happy Gilmore 2 is released for streaming on Netflix, with the protagonist having to return to pro golf after a long retirement. The plot is centered around the titular ex-golfer, who has to try and get hold of a significant amount of money to fulfill his daughter’s passionate dream of becoming a ballerina, and he decides to finally pick up the club once more. Overall, Happy Gilmore 2 fairly holds on to the silly, goofy entertainment of the first film and is helped even more by its long list of cameo appearances by celebrities ranging from Travis Kelce to Eminem.
Spoiler Alert
Why does Happy return to golf?
Happy Gilmore 2 begins with a quick recap of the bizarre events in the protagonist’s life following the incidents of the first film, in which he had successfully established himself as a professional golfer. He enjoyed immense success both on and off the course, winning the U.S. Open and also marrying his beloved girlfriend, Virginia Venit, after they became parents to a baby boy. Over the next few years, Happy won numerous other golfing competitions, often with an unnatural stroke of luck, while going on to become father to three more sons in three successive years, and then a daughter. He was already famous enough to get brand endorsements and even his own video game, in which players had to play both golf and also random fighting matches, in line with Happy’s usual antics on the golf course.
Feeling accomplished in life, with four sons and one daughter, and enough money to last the family a lifetime, Happy wanted to retire from golf, a sport that he still did not like much, and spend the rest of his life in leisure. It was Virginia who kept pushing him, as she had high ambitions for him to become the greatest professional golfer of all time, and unfortunately this turned the tides against her and her husband. During a tour championship held on Mother’s Day, ironically, one of the extremely long shots played by Happy turned out to be fatal for Virginia, as the golf ball hit and killed her immediately. Happy was unable to digest the fact that he had ended up killing his beloved wife, albeit accidentally, and thus he decided to never pick up a golf club in his life ever again.
As his career ended in a sudden and also heartbreaking way, Happy Gilmore had to look for some purpose in life, now that he was a clueless single father to five children, and in an unexpected development, he quickly became an alcoholic, boozing throughout the day and no matter where he went. He was equally clueless about the family finances, since that too had been Virginia’s forte, and he struggled to pay bills on time, not because he did not have money, but because he found it too complicated. When Happy failed to renew the lease for his sports car, the company sent men to repossess it, and the protagonist ended up assaulting them in his drunken stupor, believing them to be thieves. This resulted in the company filing a hefty lawsuit against him, which ultimately drained most of the wealth that he had made as a pro golfer.
Having had to sell off everything, including his grandmother’s house, which he had saved in the first place by becoming a pro golfer, the Gilmore family had to move to a more modest neighborhood, with odd neighbors and hardly any facilities. The four sons moved into an apartment together, as they all took up menial jobs, while Happy and his daughter, Vienna, took a small house close to his new workplace, a local convenience store. As they start settling into this new life, Happy is particularly impressed by Vienna’s talent as a ballet dancer, as expressed by her teacher, and the latter insists that the teenager can make it really big if she receives proper support and training. She suggests that Vienna be sent to the Paris Opera Ballet School in France, where the girl has already been accepted, but it is also quite expensive, costing 75,000 dollars every year, for a four year course. Eager to help his daughter pursue her passion, as Happy often feels guilty that his children are not being able to live the life he had envisioned for them, he looks for ways to get hold of the large amount of 300,000 dollars.
With Virginia still very much on his mind, Happy often sees his dead wife in his dreams, urging him to return to pro golf once again, and now with a severe need for funds, he decides to give the sport another go. But it is not an easy task for the 50-something man, as he has neither the fitness nor the discipline required to be a golfer, especially in modern times. Happy goes for a training session at a local course, along with three other strangers, where he realizes that he still has the ability to hit slapshots, which had made him famous and successful in the first place. However, his alcoholism now lands him in serious trouble, as he is arrested for driving under the influence and vandalism, bringing shame to his children as well. This is when Happy Gilmore finally decides to do something about his life, and he chooses to make a comeback in the sport of golf, along with attending an AA group to begin his journey to sobriety.
Who is Frank Manatee, and what is Maxi Golf?
Keeping up with the times, the main antagonist in Happy Gilmore 2 is a businessman named Frank Manatee, who dreams of revolutionizing the world of golf, but by disregarding and getting rid of the key fundamentals of the sport altogether. Frank shows up quite early into the film, introducing himself as the founder and owner of a beverage brand named Maxi Sports Drinks, and he is eager to make acquaintances with Happy Gilmore after running across the retired golfer at the convenience store. Frank reveals that he has been planning on launching a more modernized version of golf that will focus much more on the entertainment value of the sport, and so he wants Happy to sign up as a player in his new league.
The protagonist is terribly displeased and angry at Frank’s undoubtedly rude comment about his grief over the death of Virginia and the ensuing financial duress of the family, and so he literally shoves the younger man into a fish tank. But Happy is unable to get rid of Frank Manatee that easily, in the grander scheme of things, as the businessman’s new Maxi Golf league quickly makes a grand entry into the plot. As Frank himself puts it, Maxi Golf is like normal golf with extra shots of adrenaline so that it has all the modern qualities required to be popular in today’s times.
The traditional courses containing 18 holes have been drastically shortened to just 7 holes in order to make the game more fast-paced and therefore more appropriate for modern audiences with very little attention span. To make matters even more intense, a shot clock has been added, meaning that a golfer will have to take shots within the designated short duration of time, or else face penalties. The broadcast, as well as the clothes of the golfers, is given vibrant neon splashes to make it more appealing, and certain unnatural additions are made to the courses as well to make them much more challenging and therefore fun to watch. Later in the film, we see a course that has a literal forest between the starting point and the hole; a course that is snow-themed and extremely slippery to walk on; and one in which the area around the hole literally rotates and flips around like some amusement park ride. Although these modifications are absolutely outrageous to traditional golfers, Maxi Golf gained enough popularity for it to start to challenge actual golf and its association.
Therefore, the golfing association decides to have a challenge exhibition between the best five players of original golf and the best five players of the new Maxi Golf, the winner of which will get to continue and form its own league, while the other will cease to exist. All this takes place right as Happy Gilmore makes a return to the sport, and therefore he starts playing golf not just to fulfill his daughter’s dreams, but also to save traditional golf from obsolescence. But Frank Manatee turns out to be an antagonist with a solid plan, for he is absolutely confident that the Maxi Golfers will be able to defeat the ‘boring’ old-school golfers very easily, for he has recently made a new discovery.
When researching Happy Gilmore’s supreme ability to strike the ball hundreds of yards away, Frank had found out about another golfer who could do so in the past, Ben Daggett. When Daggett had an X-ray carried out later in life, it was revealed that he had torn his iliolumbar ligament as a child, which could never be put back together, and this was deemed to be the reason behind him being able to twist his body further than usual and shoot those extremely long shots. Frank’s research hypothesized that if he could intentionally tear the iliolumbar ligaments of young players, then they could also shoot the golf ball hundreds of yards away. Surprisingly, he even gets a team of golfers who agree to undergo the surgery, and so he now has a team ready to make extremely long shots to prove the superiority of Maxi Golf.
Is Shooter McGavin the antagonist once again?
The initial trailer had made it seem like Shooter McGavin will make a return to play the antagonist in some minor capacity, but this is not actually the case, though he remains one of the central characters in the plot. Following the fiasco at the end of Happy Gilmore, Shooter was arrested on multiple charges and had been put away at a psychiatric hospital, as he was deemed too dangerous to be reinstated in society. Even during an evaluation at present, Shooter cannot help but express how he will absolutely crush and kill Happy Gilmore for destroying his life, and so he remains under strict observation at the hospital.
But when Frank Manatee is turned down by Happy at the beginning of the film, he decides to approach the other great player from yesteryear, Shooter McGavin, to be a part of Maxi Golf and endorse his product. Thus, Frank has Shooter released from the hospital, and he explains his plan with regard to changing the sport to the ex-golfer, who is very offended by it. Despite his personal troubles accepting loss, Shooter remains very loyal to the sport of golf, and he considers Frank’s version of it a complete debauchery. He had also earlier been shocked at the news of Virginia’s death, since he had worked with the woman for quite some time, and so he visits her grave to pay his respects, and this is where he comes across Happy.
Although Happy and Shooter have a scuffle at the cemetery, they quickly come to the realization that both of them are too old for such action and that they also genuinely have no reason to fight. Considering each other friends for the very first time, the two decide to work together when Shooter reveals Frank’s plan to Happy. Thus, Shooter McGavin becomes the coach and mentor to the five ‘traditional’ golf teammates, and he even goes on to play and win a round in the face-off competition, proving that he is still far better than the youngster golfers, despite their iliolumbar ligament surgeries. As Happy reveals to Shooter, he had never torn any ligament in his body but simply used rage to hit the ball better, meaning that Frank’s theory is actually false.
Which Characters Make A Return From The First Film?
Shooter McGavin is not the only character returning in the sequel, though, with a number of direct appearances and tributes spread throughout the film. During his first-ever golf tournament, Happy had been assigned a young boy as his caddie, who had been brutally attacked by the protagonist when he had tried to carry his golfing clubs, since Happy did not know what a caddie was supposed to do. This young boy was not named in the first film, but in Happy Gilmore 2, the character is shown to have grown up and become a professional golfer himself. Real-life pro golfer Will Zalatoris plays the role in the sequel, suggesting that he was once the caddie to Happy and had been attacked by him, although this is a fictional addition.
Three other characters, or rather their character types, make an indirect return, as they are remembered by their respective sons, who are funnily up to the same business as they had once been. Slim Peterson, the son of the veteran golfer and Happy’s coach, Chubbs, is approached by the protagonist for some much-needed advice, and Slim also has a wooden prosthetic hand just like his father. Turns out, Slim had lost his hand to a vending machine, and not an alligator, but Happy keeps breaking the prosthetic arm unintentionally, just like before.
Mr. Larson, Happy’s intimidating but kind-hearted ex-boss, is now represented by his own son, Drago Larson, who comes out to the golf course to support Happy during his comeback tournament. Drago also makes an outrageous attempt to divert public attention (by streaking) to help Happy out, and he is played by former NBA basketballer Boban Marjanovic.
In a similar fashion, Donald, the heckler who had been hired by Shooter in the first film, makes a spiritual comeback in Happy Gilmore 2 through his son, Donald Jr., who happens to be in the same informal profession as his father. Frank hires Donald Jr., played by Eminem, to constantly heckle Happy and distract him, which the young man does quite well, until he is dealt with by Happy’s sons, who throw him into the lake filled with alligators, technically killing him.
Ben Stiller also reprises his role as the corrupt orderly Hal H; only this time he has his own business, as he owns and runs the Alcoholics Anonymous group that Happy enrolls in. While Hal’s profession has changed, he has not mended his ways, as after having manipulated the elderly at the retirement home into working for him, he now does the same to the AA group members. Hal preaches some nonsense about the connection between sobriety and doing handiwork for him during each meeting, and he has the members paint and clean his house and even build things for him without any reward.
Did Happy Win The Face-Off?
Despite having (rather simplistic) twists and turns in the plot, Happy Gilmore 2 remains a straightforward film like the 1996 production, meaning that nothing unexpected happens at the end. During the final round, in which Happy has to face Billy Jenkins, Frank agrees to raise the stakes considerably higher through a deal. If Happy can sink the putt, Frank will bring an immediate end to his Maxi Golf project, will pay the entire fees for Vienna’s ballet class, and will also buy back Grandma Gilmore’s house. But if Happy loses, then he will have to join the Maxi Golf project and abide by Frank’s terms. If he lost, it would also immediately signal an end to traditional golf, as Maxi Golf would replace it. However, Happy does not allow for such a situation, and he uses his supreme skills and intelligence to win the round and the competition, ensuring that traditional golf survives and continues to thrive as well.
Thus, at the end of Happy Gilmore 2, the protagonist happily sees off Vienna as she leaves for France to pursue her dream of becoming a ballerina. Happy also accomplishes his personal goal of being sober for three months and even gets a token for it. But as it turns out, Hal H was under federal investigation, and one of the members at the AA group was an undercover agent, meaning that he is now under arrest. Hal tries to escape, along with Happy’s token (just like Shooter had once done, stealing Happy’s jacket), but gets caught. Happy Gilmore ultimately retires from golf once again and hopes to spend his life in quiet and peace.
What Happens To Frank In The End?
Happy Gilmore 2 also gives a humorous update with regard to Frank Manatee and his business(es) at the very end. The loss in the faceoff competition had meant that Maxi Golf was called off and his ‘revolutionary take’ on golf was quashed before it could even fully materialize. To make matters worse for him, his Maxi sports drinks business is under threat, as the drinks have been found to be contaminated, which was causing irreversible halitosis, gingivitis, and something called tongue rot among customers. This surely explains why Frank himself had terribly bad breath, which was mentioned numerous times throughout the film. However, Frank’s current whereabouts remain unknown, probably adding an air of mystery to the character. Having lost everything in life because of Happy Gilmore, Frank Manatee might just return for revenge against the protagonist in a possible sequel or spin-off.
