Happy Gilmore (1996) Universal/Comedy RT: 92 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, comic violence and some comic sexuality) Director: Dennis Dugan Screenplay: Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler Music: Mark Mothersbaugh Cinematography: Arthur Albert Release date: February 16, 1996 (US) Cast: Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Frances Bay, Carl Weathers, Allen Covert, Richard Kiel, Dennis Dugan, Joe Flaherty, Ben Stiller, Robert Smigel, Kevin Nealon, Jared Van Snellenberg, Bob Barker. Box Office: $38.8M (US)/$41.2M (World)
Rating: ***
In a perfect world, some filmmaker would find a way for The Hanson Brothers (from Slap Shot) to team up with Adam Sandler’s character in Happy Gilmore. In it, he plays a failed hockey player who finds a new calling when he takes up golf. The game hasn’t been this fun since Caddyshack II.
Happy Gilmore (Sandler, Billy Madison) wants to be a professional hockey player in the worst way. He has a powerful slap shot, but can’t skate worth a damn. He also has a violent temper. When told he didn’t make the cut yet again, he assaults the coach.
One day, Happy learns that his beloved grandmother (Bay, Blue Velvet) owes the IRS $270,000 in back taxes. If she can’t pay it back in 90 days time, they’ll be auctioning off her house. Upon learning his powerful swing serves him well in the game of golf (he can hit a ball 400 yards), Happy decides to become a pro in order to raise the money to save Grandma’s house.
He makes it to the PGA tour where he immediately runs afoul of the officials due to his wild antics and profane-laden meltdowns on the course. They’d like to kick him off the tour, but he’s bringing in a lot of new viewers and sponsors. They agree to let him stay on provided pretty PR director Virginia (Bowen, Modern Family) can get him to tone it down. Naturally, they become romantically involved.
Happy’s main nemesis on and off the course is Shooter McGavin (McDonald, Grease 2), an arrogant jerk who sees the young, brash newbie as a threat. He wants rid of Happy by any means necessary. At one point, he brings in a heckler (Flaherty, SCTV) to throw him off his game. Eventually, the two go face-to-face in the Tour Championship.
By way of improving his short game (i.e. putting), he asks former golf pro Chubbs (Weathers, Predator) for his expertise. Chubbs could have been a contender if not for an unfortunate encounter with an alligator. It bit off his hand and he now wears a wooden prosthetic. Predictable, that fake limb goes through the wringer over the course of 92 minutes.
Directed by Dennis Dugan (Grown Ups 1 & 2), Happy Gilmore is a funny movie. It’s from the cycle of “dumb comedies” kicked off by Dumb and Dumber (1994) and Billy Madison (1995). I saw it at an advance screening and the audience loved it. I was laughing right along with them. Only Adam Sandler can make sociopathic behavior funny. His automatic reaction to any perceived offense is to beat the crap out of the offender no matter who it is. At one point, The Price is Right host Bob Barker (playing himself) finds himself at the wrong end of Happy’s wrath. Their brawl at a celebrity match is a classic among movie fight scenes.
Acting, in the traditional sense of the word, isn’t really a consideration in movies like Happy Gilmore. The only thing that matters is if the actors are funny or not. In this case, they are. McDonald is at his buffoonish best as the antagonist. Shooter is one those alpha males who feel threatened by anyone who doesn’t worship at his altar. Happy sees through his BS and frequently turns the tables on him. Get a load of this verbal exchange:
Shooter: “I eat pieces of s*** like you for breakfast.”
Happy: “You eat pieces of s*** for breakfast?”
Shooter: [Long pause] “No!”
Bowen has some good scenes as Happy’s level-headed romantic interest. Bay is likable as the cool grandmother who greets young Happy in a Gene Simmons (from KISS) mask when he’s sent to live with her after his father’s untimely death at a hockey game. I didn’t know it until I saw Happy Gilmore, but Weathers has true comedy talent. He gets laughs as the hapless mentor who tries to impart his talent for the game to the temperamental young man. Richard Kiel, better known as 007 villain Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), is a riot as Happy’s former boss when he briefly worked construction.
One of things I really like about Happy Gilmore is the soundtrack. Sandler has a knack for choosing great songs from back in the day. Among the tunes heard here are “Tuesday’s Gone” (Lynyrd Skynyrd), “Kiss You All Over” (Exile), “Magic” (Pilot), “Carry On Wayward Son” (Kansas) and, in a surprisingly sweet scene at an ice skating rink, “Endless Love” (Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross).
It all comes down to this then. Is Happy Gilmore funny or not? It is! Not every single joke is a hole-in-one. I wasn’t especially amused by the running gag about elder abuse at the home where Grandma temporarily stays. Ben Stiller, in an uncredited role, plays an abusive orderly who runs a quilt sweat shop. I wish Dugan included a scene where Happy unleashes his fury on that guy. Alas, he does not. Aside from that glitch, Happy Gilmore is good, dumb fun. Hockey fans will love it. Golf fans might not appreciate seeing their game trashed by Happy’s inappropriate behavior. To them I say, lighten up and laugh. It may not be a perfect game, but it still comes in under par.
