Legacy sequels aren’t a new concept; the act of monetizing nostalgia has been practiced by filmmakers for decades, and the results have always been hit or miss. One of the earliest examples of this is The Color of Money, which was a follow-up to The Hustler, and it was loved by critics and audiences alike. Then we got The Godfather 3 and the Star Wars prequel trilogy, which were hated by almost everyone. Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max: Fury Road are considered to be great legacy sequels, but they are also two of the greatest movies of all time. The Halloween sequel trilogy proved to be hugely controversial, while the Creed trilogy was a genre-defining success. And the list just goes on. But the one movie that’s become almost synonymous with the term “legacy sequel” is Top Gun: Maverick. That cinematic juggernaut seemingly perfected what filmmakers had been trying to do for ages and stretched the horizons of action cinema to their limits. Even though I hadn’t grown up watching Top Gun, I was deeply moved by it. What did I grow up with, though? That’s right. Happy Gilmore, and I’m here to say that Happy Gilmore 2 is Adam Sandler’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Kyle Newacheck’s Happy Gilmore 2, written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler, follows the titular character after his first Tour Championship win. Happy has married Virginia and has five kids with her: Vienna, Wayne, Gordie, Bobby, and Terry. While he is thriving as a pro golfer, his kids seem to have no interest in the sport. So, Happy wants to retire from golfing and focus on his kids. But Virginia insists that he should keep swinging that club as long as he can instead of putting it down prematurely. That ends up being a mistake because one of Happy’s signature long drives ends up killing Virginia and sends the celebrity golfer on a downward spiral. He becomes an alcoholic and drinks away all his prize money. He assaults a repo man and ends up losing his late grandma’s house as well. His boys are forced to take on menial jobs to make ends meet whilst living in an apartment. Meanwhile, Happy and Vienna move into a rough neighborhood, with the former working at a convenience store to pay for his daughter’s school fees. When he learns that she has a chance to study at the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet School, he decides to pick up his clubs again to secure its sky-high fees. Two things hinder Happy’s journey: his alcoholism and Frank’s Maxi Golf Course.
To truly explain my comparison of Top Gun: Maverick and Happy Gilmore 2, I have to go into spoiler-y territory. So, you have been warned. Okay, so while Top Gun was about being the best fighter pilot out there, Top Gun: Maverick was about being the best fighter pilot so that manned jets aren’t replaced by drones. It posed the argument that war shouldn’t be as easy as sending an unmanned aircraft to a certain location, dropping bombs, and calling it a day. It should take a toll on one’s mind and body, and that should inform one’s decision to wage war or opt for diplomacy. That in turn evolved into a commentary on filmmaking and how AI and other soulless methods are being opted to make something as emotional as art, while humans are being sidelined because they are “difficult to handle.” Happy Gilmore was about a working-class guy breaking into a sport that’s reserved for the upper class and making it big. It was an underdog story, and it showed that if there’s a will, there’s a way. Happy Gilmore 2 introduces surgically enhanced golfers who can swing harder than Happy, and then there’s a golf course that’s supposed to put traditional golfing out of business. And after presenting this spine-chilling blend of body horror, capitalism, and entertainment, Tim and Adam pose the question, “Can the old always be gold?”
I know next to nothing about golf, and I know that Happy Gilmore 2 isn’t supposed to be taken all that seriously, but by pitting regular golfers against enhanced golfers, I think the movie is commenting on how capitalists’ need to profit off of anything and everything might have some horrifying consequences. The youth is always roped into these ventures under the guise of “creating an open market” and “opposing the practice of gatekeeping.” As soon as a venture becomes profitable, the gates are closed again, and those who are in need of the tools that were once publicly available are left in the lurch. In this economy, we are seeing people in their 60s coming out of retirement to make ends meet, but since the rules have changed, they are being forced to settle for less. And that, in my opinion, is unfair. Much like Maverick, the movie’s commentary can be extended to the evolution of comedy. Unfunny people like to say that comedy has become too woke. I think that it’s being pulled in two opposite directions. There’s one side that is way too easily offended, and then there’s another side that’s just gross. There’s a middle ground, but it is rapidly shrinking. However, that’s no excuse to give up. If you love what you do, fighting for it is of utmost importance.
Now, you might be wondering, if Happy Gilmore 2 managed to incite such profound thoughts in my mind, why is the score so low? Well, because the movie takes about an hour to get going. The first half of the film is actually excruciating. The whole film is overflowing with cameos, callbacks, and jokes that never had the faintest possibility of landing. The acting is garbage. The visual storytelling is okay-ish. But the cameos are egregious. If you have a weak heart, you’ll probably give up in the first twenty minutes. However, in my opinion, if you do that, you’ll be missing out on the second half, which is actually great. The entire golf course, especially the final putting green, is nothing short of genius. In fact, there’s an overhead shot of that putting green that’s so beautiful that I have taken a snap of it to make the memory last. All the performances in that second half are great. There are several moments where Adam Sandler is looking at his real-life daughters, Sadie and Sunny, and they are so sweet that you can’t help but feel emotional. Christopher McDonald is yet again the scene-stealer. The man’s energy is something else. Benny Safdie continues to prove that he has some amazing acting chops. Doing this after Oppenheimer is crazy stuff. Despite having little-to-no acting experience, I think Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler are pretty good. Ben Stiller, as usual, is fantastic. Bad Bunny is genuinely splendid. Eminem, Travis Kelce, and Boban Marjanovic give the best cameo performances; the rest are tolerable at best and pukeworthy at worst.
Throughout the 2000s, I must have watched Happy Gilmore at least 50 times. After that, I never got around to rewatching it. On the day Happy Gilmore 2 was announced, the image of Scooter kissing Happy’s grandma, whilst she’s wearing the KISS band’s makeup, flashed before my eyes. That’s how deeply that movie impacted me. When I rewatched it in preparation for this legacy sequel, I re-realized that it’s one of the best comedies of all time. Happy’s return to the golf course isn’t perfect, and it’s certainly no Top Gun: Maverick. If I wasn’t nostalgic about the first film, I would’ve straight-up trashed it. But unlike a lot of legacy sequels that are trying too hard to bring in new audiences or not trying at all, I’m appreciative of the fact that Kyle Newacheck and his team have tried to talk about something relevant through the absurdist lens of Sandler’s brand of humor. It has left the door ajar for a sequel, and I hope that Sandler and his team cap this trilogy with the introduction of robot golfers to further their commentary on the importance of celebrating humans and humanity. Well, if that sounds like a recommendation to you, please, feel free to check out Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix.
