Happy Gilmore

Red = Spoilers 

Happy Gilmore is a classic comedy that’s still watchable 30 years later because the jokes they make are timeless. A guy, playing where he doesn’t belong, starts winning and hated on by the professionals. Then, he starts a rivalry with the winning guy. It’s your classic underdog story. 

What’s it about? So, we start out finding out how Happy is a hockey player and how his grandma helped raise him. Or, he tries to be a hockey player. So, one day, he goes to try out for a hockey team, and he’s a terrible hockey player, and it’s not the first time he’s tried out. He comes home to find his girlfriend is walking out on him. He wakes up the next day to find out that his grandma is getting her house repossessed because she hasn’t paid her taxes in a decade. They have to come up with $275k or the IRS is going to sell Happy’s grandma’s house. After moving his grandma into a nursing home, Happy discovers that he has the ability to drive the ball extremely far and decides to go to the local driving range to bet people to outdrive him. He gets discovered by the local pro Chubs, and convinced to join the next open tournament. Happy wins the open and is invited to join the Pro Tour. After winning for a while and earning some money, Happy has enough to buy the house, but he has to buy it at an auction, and Shooter outbids him. Shooter wants him to quit the tour in exchange for the house. Instead, Happy bets Shooter that if he can beat him, he’ll quit the tour, but if Happy wins, he gets the house, and Shooter agrees. The next day is tense and Happy and Shooter are paired up together when a crazed man in a Volkswagon runs onto the course and hits Happy, causing him to lose his ability to drive the long ball. On the 18 hole, a tower falls in the way of the cup and Happy has to hit it like some sort of golf-Rube Goldberg machine. He sinks the put and wins the game and Shooter takes off with the gold jacket that Happy just won for winning the league championship.  

What’s good? This is a classic of comedy. One of those old movies that you really should have seen by now. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? Everything’s good. It’s just a funny movie. 

What’s bad? There’s some bad acting. It can’t all be good. The quality of the alligator is sub-par when Adam Sandler is wrestling it. And Carl Weather’s wooden hand is like three feet long. There’s no way he’s missing that hand. It almost looks like he’s got an extra hand in there… 

The acting? The acting’s good by most people. There’s always that black guy near the end with the really awkward line “The gold jacket’s yours, Happy! Shooter’s gonna choke!” And then he nods approvingly. Like, who did that guy know to get that line in that movie? That’s all I want to know. Just, how did he get in to get that line? Because he didn’t audition for it. 

The effects? There’s not a whole lot of effects to speak of. I guess when the tower falls down or when Happy’s having his dream sequence is pretty much the extent of the effects in the movie. They’re pretty basic for 1996.  

Quotable lines. A lot of quotable lines come from Happy Gilmore. Vulgar, course, foul, quotable lines. That are very funny in the right circumstances. But very vulgar… 

Ben Stiller’s character. Ben Stiller’s character is very funny in this movie. He goes from the sweet nurse to a slavedriver in a split second. And when he tells the old lady that she’s on “landscaping duty”, that’s hilarious. 

Alan Covert. This is Alan Covert’s early career too. Alan Covert is a frequent worker with Adam Sandler and writes on a lot of things and even starred in Grandma’s Boy in 2006. 

One of Adam Sandler’s good movies. This is one of Adam Sandler’s few good movies. There aren’t many. He’s much better suited behind the camera than in front. It was this and Billy Madison. There really weren’t that many others.  

So, yeah. Go and see Happy Gilmore. It’s a good time. You should enjoy it. Even though golf is pretty stupid. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…