Golf ball-sized spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched Happy Gilmore 2 with a Netflix subscription.
Happy Gilmore may not be considered among the best sports movies in existence, and probably wouldn’t even top lists limited to those starring Adam Sandler, which is an admission I make with abundant wincing. I adore it nonetheless, and perhaps naively had little doubts the character’s return would be just as excellent — an opinion our Happy Gilmore 2 review supports. So I wasn’t exactly surprised to spend the whole runtime laughing, but was surprised by who earned a lot of those laughs.
Because several major cast members passed away after the O.G. comedy’s release — with Carl Weathers’ death sparking late-stage rewrites — Happy Gilmore 2 pays tribute to beloved characters who could not return, while bringing back essentially everyone who could, from Kevin Nealon’s Gary Potter to Dennis Dugan’s Doug Thompson to Shooter McGavin himself, Christopher McDonald. Yet it’s somehow a larger-than-expected supporting role from a real-life golfer that stole the show for me.
John Daly Is My Favorite Happy Gilmore 2 Character, Which Still Feels Weird To Say
Like many Adam Sandler films, Happy Gilmore 2 exists on a plane where reality is heightened but emotions are grounded. Case in point: Virginia's death via golf ball in the opening catch-up mirroring Happy's dad dying via slapshot in the first movie. As such, this is a world where a widowed Happy and his five kids are living with a fictionalized version of real-life golfer John Daly. And it's so damned funny!
Initially, Daly slumming it up in Happy's garage doesn't seem like such a stretch, and I can't even explain why. Perhaps because that bonkers detail is introduced early on with such a casual tone that it's like, 'Well yeah, why WOULDN'T they be living together?" Daly developed a reputation as a rabble-rouser on the golf course with behavior not unlike Happy Gilmore's.
However, Daly becomes more unsavory and feral as Happy gets back into the (golf) swing of things ahead of the Maxi Golf face-off, and it's wild just how many scenes in the movie cut back to him inside Happy's house. Whether he's with the Gilmore kids, Shooter McGavin, Steve Buscemi's weirdo neighbor character, or otherwise, Daly is far more of a supporting character than I ever would have predicted. Whlie I thought he'd be relegated to the banquet scene with all dozens of other real-life golfers appearing, Daly instead became an all-time great Sandler co-star.
Making the role all the more baffling is the fact John Daly has been candid about his real-life struggles with alcoholism throughout his career and much of his adult life, which adds a strange layer to all the jokes about Happy's own boozing. Not to mention his endless supply of secret flasks throughout the house, which Daly makes attempts to seek out while also pumping hand sanitizer into his mouth. I can't explain why it's so funny for that specific act to punctuate a scene, but it works.
It all works, in fact, to the point where I now won't be too surprised if Adam Sandler gets John Daly back for whatever his next Happy Madison movie is. Maybe he can be brothers with Blake Clark's homeless beachcomber.
Extremely Honorable Mention Goes To Bad Bunny's Oscar
Bad Bunny has already proven himself to be as multi-talented on screen as he is with music, so it's less surprising that his debut as Happy's new caddy Oscar is such a delight to watch. Perhaps the biggest surprise here is that Oscar is able to get so many laughs without having a whole lot of dialogue to play around with.
The fact that Bad Bunny is able to make the line "Breadsticks?" work as a punchline across multiple scenes is as much an indication of his skills as anything. Just thinking about Oscar introducing his cousin Esteban (SNL's Marcello Hernandez) as his own caddy is enough to make me start giggling. As is Esteban's extreme generosity after it's clear he won't be anyone's caddy.
I don't know if we'll get to see any further adventures from Happy Gilmore & Co., but I'm grateful that all involved took the time to make sure this long-awaited sequel was worthy of the wait. Also, if there ever IS another sequel, maybe it'll be one where Ben Stiller's Hal L. swallows a grenade and explodes.
