Happy Gilmore 2 - a worthy sequel

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to watch Happy Gilmore for the first time, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. While this film featured all the tropes we've come to expect from any project starring this Adam Sandler, it approached its premise with an infectious sincerity, making it pretty hard to hate.

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For this reason, I felt the idea of making a sequel almost 30 years later was quite interesting, especially considering that Happy, unlike many of the other characters Sandler had played in the mid-90s and early 2000s, had a decent level of charisma, even though he was devoid of almost irremediable flaws.

We know that his production company, Happy Madison, has been working with Netflix for some time now, and the results have been mixed at best.

The curious thing is that of all these collaborations, at least in terms of comedy, the sequel to Happy Madison, released this July 25th, is one of the strongest.

The reason? A respectable ability to adapt its premise to modern times, even if it has to juggle and twist to function as a standalone story that simultaneously embraces the events of the first film.

This, of course, is far from a masterpiece of the genre, but it has the advantage of not taking itself too seriously, a virtue that made its predecessor a classic in 1996.

The celebrity cameos, which are certainly excessive and unnecessary, don't upset viewers, because they're probably a way for all these recognizable faces to be part of an irreverent comedy classic they probably grew up with.

Because if not, there's no budget in the world capable of putting stars like Bad Bunny, Kid Cudi, Steve Buscemi, Post Malone, Margaret Qualley, or Travis Kelce (just to name a few) in a golf movie, and while they're quite distracting, they contribute to the overall relaxed and uninhibited feeling of the entire film.

It's also worth noting that Happy Gilmore 2 is riddled with nods and references to the first installment, from specific moments and lines to actors reprising their roles with gusto.

Obviously, it lacks the iconic status of the original Happy Gilmore, but I feel like anyone who enjoyed it back in the day will also have a good time with this sequel.

Score taken from my Letterboxd account.