Review: Adam Sandler stays out of the rough with Happy Gilmore 2

WARNING: MAJOR spoilers ahead!!

When news first broke that Adam Sandler was set to reprise his role as Happy Gilmore, I have to admit that I was rubbing my hands together with delight.

Though the film industry is saturated with legacy sequels these days (some of which miss the mark by so many yards, they have me yelling 'fore'), Adam has a fairly good track record when it comes to making his audience laugh.

Happy Gilmore 2 was largely everything I wanted in a sequel to the 1996 film. It made me laugh out loud, while also tugging on my heartstrings at certain points.

It wasn't a movie that required much of my attention, which made it the perfect lazy Saturday watch. Although it put me through my paces in that it almost gave me whiplash with the amount of times I snapped to attention when there was an unexpected cameo on screen.

I didn't have any expectations when it came to the plotline, which worked out in my favour, because I was left open-mouthed for longer than I should've when they killed Julie Bowen's character Virginia Venit off within the first couple of minutes.

Seriously, I was expecting a 'You've been pranked' moment throughout the entire film, given the Modern Family actress was fully engaged in the press tour.

That being said, on reflection, it's really one of the only storylines that would've worked out in Adam's favour, as he managed to stay true to the essence of Happy Gilmore: the underdog triumphs trope.

Following the format of many sequels, Happy Gilmore 2 introduces a new 'villain' to the mix, but for a second there, I was convinced we were about to be subjected to another two hours of Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) and his antics.

And in the end, I rather enjoyed his character's redemption arc, I must say.

The kitchen sink was thrown at Happy Gilmore 2 in terms of budget, and as aforementioned, the number of cameos was more than impressive - 78 in total, I believe!

As always, Adam's daughters Sunny and Sadie, and his wife Jackie, made appearances, and Ben Stiller reprised his role as Hal L., though I fear he leaned a little too much into his Zoolander character's mannerisms for the reprisal.

Taylor Swift's nepo-beau Travis Kelce appeared in the film, alongside Bad Bunny, both of whom I thought were great in their roles.

A host of renowned golfers also starred in Happy Gilmore 2, and while Scottie Scheffler was totally up to the challenge, Rory McIlroy seemed as though he had a golf club up his you-know-what in scenes that left me cringing.

Adam reassembled his Grown Ups crew in Steve Buscemi, Nick Swardson, Jon Lovitz, Rob Schneider, Blake Clark, Jonathan Loughran, and Oliver Hudson for the project.

The actor also made sure to subtly pay tribute to his former co-star Cameron Boyce, who passed away in July 2019 at the young age of 20.

And then everyone from Irish wrestler Becky Lynch and actress Margaret Qualley to Post Malone and Eminem popped in to say hi to viewers throughout the film.

All in all, did we need a sequel to Happy Gilmore? No, but it was good craic, and stayed true to Adam Sandler's classic fever dream storytelling that we all so badly crave.