By Jacob Cameron 

Happy Gilmore 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 film Happy Gilmore. It is released on Netflix; which means that the unholy alliance of Adam Sandler and Netflix continues. As someone who loves the original film, I was slightly optimistic that this would at least be funny. It is funny in bursts; but the rest is a confusing mess of flashbacks, butt jokes, and cameos.

Happy Gilmore 2 sees the return of Happy Gilmore to the golf course. He has lost everything due to an accident in his family and is a depressed alcoholic. He is given a chance at redemption and cash via the owner of the Maxi golf league played by Benny Safdie. The Maxi golf league has turned to a game of golf into a circus, and it’s up to Happy, his family, and a sleuth of other golfers to stop them.

Adam Sandler has shown that he is funny and can pull off a dramatic performance. He is talented; but he’s seemingly content at making a lot of money utilizing none of these talents. He is funny enough in this movie to make it somewhat entertaining. But this movie falls into the sequel trope to where the hero loses everything and has to get it all back. Which is particularly annoying.

If Happy Gilmore 2 shows anything, it’s that there is a priority of references and cameos over telling a coherent story. This movie is obsessed with making you remember how fun the original was that it gets grating. There are too many flashbacks, too many callbacks to the original movies, and too many rehashed jokes. No matter how small the reference is, no matter how desperate it is, it will be brought up.

The first half of the film is watchable. The second half is a swirling vortex of garbage. Stuffed to the gills with: golfer cameos past and present, actor cameos from the original and other Sandler films, celebrities that have nothing to do with golf, even several podcast hosts you’ve at least heard of. The desperation of some of these cameos is so thick you can cut it with a knife and spread it on toast. And don’t even get me started on the running jokes of Happy drinking alcohol from inanimate objects he’s hidden and golfer John Daly eating hand sanitizer.

The climax of the film is genuinely awful. It is an assault on the senses with aspects that are an insult to golf and taste in general. There seemed to be an undertone of commentary regarding a super rich guy making something tacky as an ego boost. But if the intention was to lampoon something like LIV golf, it was not successful. Instead, it came across as desperate.

At the end of the day, this is one of the worst movies of the year. As someone who likes Adam Sandler and believes he is talented, this feels insulting to those talents. The logic of this movie is “What If…” As in, what if this was referenced, or this person showed up for no reason. A waste of two hours and make no mistake.

½  stars