Happy Gilmore 2 (review)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 1 August 2025

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Almost three decades after the classic 90s sports comedy, Adam Sandler is back as the legendary golfer with anger issues.

29 years after winning his first Tour Championship, Gilmore is a widowed, alcoholic, single father-of-five working in a supermarket. He returns to professional golf to put his daughter through ballet school in Paris, while also out to save the sport itself from a new age rival.

Sandler’s comedies have decreased in quality in recent years since his move to Netflix, so a sequel to one of his greatest hits could've gone either way. Luckily, it went the right way.

The original has such an overwhelming cult following, with Happy Gilmore an icon of a character, and fortunately, this second instalment leans into that, with several references and throwbacks to the first. Despite this, it is worth mentioning that the plot works well on its own merit too.

Furthermore, Sandler brings out the big guns for the cast list. Julie Bowen and Christopher McDonald return as Happy’s wife Virginia and original rival Shooter McGavin respectively, and of course Ben Stiller is back as the hilarious Hal L. The sons of deceased characters Chubbs, Mr Larson and the heckler all appear in a nice nod to the first film and regular collaborators Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, Nick Swardson and Jonathan Loughran also show up. There’s celebrity golfers including Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler and an impressive roll call of cameos, notably Post Malone, Travis Kelce and Eminem. Additionally, including his real life family members makes for a nice touch.

Delivering a sequel to one of the best films of all time is both a difficult and risky task to undertake, but Sandler smashes it, serving up a two-hour nostalgia fest with just enough original story to succeed. Happy Gilmore 2 is the feelgood movie of the summer.

9/10