Culture Craze

Happy Gilmore 2: Adam Sandler’s Comeback Hits Home

Published

2 months ago

August 1, 2025

Chiraag

More heart, more laughs, and a golf cart crash you’ll never forget

Adam Sandler is back with his swing, and this time, there’s more at stake than a championship. Nearly three decades after Happy Gilmore turned a volatile hockey dropout into a golf icon, the 2025 sequel finds Happy older, messier, and facing very real problems.

Not the Happy you remember

In Happy Gilmore 2, Sandler plays a retired golf legend turned struggling single dad. After losing his wife, Happy’s life spirals, and so does his drinking. He hides alcohol in absurd disguises, like a TV remote and even a cucumber. His five grown children only add to the chaos, and his grocery store job barely keeps the lights on.

Everything changes when he’s forced to raise R5.5 million (300,000 US dollars) to send his daughter Vienna to a prestigious ballet school in Paris. There’s only one way out: pick up the clubs again and do what he swore he’d never do. Play golf.

A crash, a court case and a shot at redemption

Happy’s comeback doesn’t start well. In his first round back, he drinks too much, falls asleep in a golf cart, and crashes. The incident lands him in legal trouble.

A judge offers him a deal. If he completes an alcohol rehab programme and avoids violence, the charges will be dropped. It’s the start of an unexpected redemption arc, one filled with chaos, comedy, and the kind of messy growth that audiences love to root for.

New faces, old laughs

The sequel brings back nostalgic moments, including Happy’s infamous line, “Go to your happy place.” But it also introduces new energy.

Music megastar Bad Bunny plays a cocky up-and-coming golf pro who initially butts heads with Happy. Their rivalry slowly becomes a mentorship, creating a generational bridge that feels funny, fresh, and surprisingly emotional.

The humour holds up. But it’s the heart that steals the show.

Public reaction: Unexpectedly moving

Following the release of Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix in late July 2025, early reactions have been largely positive. Viewers across X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit praised Adam Sandler’s return, with many noting the film’s emotional depth and balance of humour and heart.

A trending Reddit thread in r/movies described the sequel as “way better than expected,” while several users on X commented that it’s “classic Sandler with surprising heart.”

While not everyone expected a sequel to hit so hard, the consensus is clear: Happy Gilmore 2 delivers more than just nostalgia.

A sequel with soul

What makes Happy Gilmore 2 more than just a follow-up is its depth. It explores grief, parenthood, and second chances. Yes, it’s still a slapstick sports comedy. But the emotional honesty gives it real weight.

Sandler plays it all: awkward, angry, grieving, and hopeful. His portrayal reminds us why we rooted for Happy in the first place.

This isn’t just a sequel. It’s a comeback story, for Happy and for Sandler himself.

Happy Gilmore 2 delivers the nostalgia, but it also reminds us that even a man who once fought an alligator and punched Bob Barker can grow up, just a little, and still make us laugh doing it.