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Tom's Guide
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Like 'Happy Gilmore 2?' Here's the 10 best Adam Sandler movies on Netflix, Prime Video and more
Adam Sandler is easily one of the biggest comedy stars in Hollywood, and the success of Netflix's newest original, "Happy Gilmore 2," shows audiences still can't get enough. Though critics have taken shots at him for decades, Sandler has built a devoted fanbase thanks to his relatable everyman charm and comedic chops. If "Happy Gilmore 2" has you eager to rewatch some of Sandler's greatest hits, we've got you covered. Several of Sandler's most iconic comedies like "The Water Boy" and "Punch-Drunk Love" are only available to rent or buy, but there are still plenty to find across the best streaming services — including some you can watch for free. So without further ado, let's dive into where you can watch all the best Adam Sandler comedies on Prime Video, Netflix, and more. "Billy Madison" is one of Sandler's earliest starring roles, and it ranks alongside "Happy Madison" as one of the comedian's most beloved earlier entries. He plays Billy, a pampered young heir to a massive hotel chain and the gold standard in man-child comedy. After wrecking an important dinner with his usual antics, his father, Brian Madison (Darren McGavin), decides to leave his empire to someone more responsible when he retires. Determined to prove himself, Billy convinces his father to give him one last chance with an absurd challenge: to return to school and pass all 12 grades. "Billy Madison" was another early entry that cemented Sandler's legacy of iconic characters and endlessly quotable one-liners. It's all a bit ridiculous, but given the wild premise, that's exactly what makes it so charming. "Big Daddy" is the perfect example of a movie that fell flat with critics but is still a favorite for Sandler fans. The 1999 comedy classic stars Sandler as Sonny Koufax, an unemployed law school grad coasting off a settlement from an accident payout. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. To prove to his ex-girlfriend that he's ready to grow up, he 'adopts' a 5-year-old boy named Julian (played by twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse). Together, they get up to all kinds of mischief around Manhattan, but important life lessons manage to peek through all the mayhem. "Big Daddy" is Sandler in peak dad mode, and in retrospect, it feels like a midway point between his silly man-child roles and his more experimental and rom-com era to come. With blockbusters like "The Waterboy" and "Big Daddy" under his belt, Sandler unleashed one of his most bizarre films to date with "Little Nicky, a unique blend of dark fantasy with frat-boy humor. Sandler stars as the titular son of Satan (Harvey Keitel) and a radiant angel (Reese Witherspoon). When his two brothers scheme to claim the throne of the underworld by unleashing chaos on Earth, Nicky sets out to stop them. But that's a tall order for a hopelessly inept, emo-haired oddball with a speech impediment. "Little Nicky" was a critical and commercial flop that stalled Sandler's career momentum in his prime, but in the decades since, it's developed a cult following, largely thanks to Sandler's unhinged performance. With "Mr. Deeds," Sandler and his longtime collaborators, writer Tim Herlihy and director Stephen Brill, take on a remake of a Hollywood classic: the 1930s Frank Capra- and Gary Cooper-led film "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town." Some details have obviously changed, but "Mr. Deeds" keeps the general story intact. Lovable small-town pizza guy Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) gets the shock of a lifetime when he unexpectedly inherits his uncle's vast estate, including a grand mansion and media empire. As insiders within the company scheme to take him down, ambitious reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) sets out to get close to Deeds, hoping to land an exclusive story, but ends up getting more than she bargained for when sparks start to fly. When Sandler teamed up with screen legend Jack Nicholson for "Anger Management," it marked a turning point in his career. Sandler plays the mild-mannered Dave Buznik, who's sentenced to anger management after a misunderstanding on a flight spirals out of control. His life is turned upside-down when he's assigned to the unconventional (and increasingly invasive) therapist Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson), who moves in with him to provide hands-on treatment for his supposed anger issues. It's rare we see Sandler play the straight man for a change, and "Anger Management" stands out for Nicholson's larger-than-life performance and the surprisingly strong comedic chemistry the two share. Watch 'Anger Management' now on Tubi Considering the undeniable chemistry they had in "The Wedding Singer," it's a wonder it took Sandler and Drew Barrymore six years to reunite for another romantic comedy. But it was worth the wait for "50 First Dates." Sandler plays Henry Roth, a commitment-phobic marine veterinarian living in Hawaii. He meets his match with Barrymore's Lucy, a kind-hearted art teacher who suffers from short-term memory loss after a car accident. Every day, she wakes up thinking it's the same day, leaving Henry to win her over again and again, one meet-cute at a time. It's a quirky but sweet rom-com with all the classic Sandler touches you'd expect: a signature Sandler guitar song, Rob Schneider in a wildly over-the-top supporting role, and a scene-stealing walrus named Jocko. Watch '50 First Dates' now on Netflix Stepping into the cleats of Burt Reynolds, Sandler takes a surprisingly faithful approach to this remake of the 1974 classic "The Longest Yard." As Paul Crewe, a disgraced former NFL quarterback who lands behind bars after violating probation, Sandler blends humor with just enough heart to make the role his own while preserving the original's gritty yet entertaining tone. To entertain a warden, Paul attempts to lead a team of inmates onto the gridiron. But before he can put a squad together, he'll first have to earn the respect of his fellow prisoners. While it may not hit the same legendary status as the original, Sandler's version still scores — maybe not a touchdown, but a solid two-point conversion. Watch 'The Longest Yard' now on Hulu "Happy Gilmore" director Dennis Dugan and Sandler team up once more in "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," a wildly absurd comedy centered around an Israeli counterterrorism commando whose true passion is hairstyling rather than espionage. With an over-the-top love for hummus, an exaggerated wardrobe full of unbuttoned shirts, and a cartoonishly large bulge, Sandler tries to bring levity to a thorny subject. Like "Happy Gilmore," the film is also packed with unexpected cameos, from Chris Rock and Henry Winkler to Mariah Carey and, most bizarrely, Dave Matthews playing a clueless white supremacist. It all adds to the film's chaotic charm. Watch 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' now on Hulu If you liked Sandler's more dramatic turn in "Uncut Gems" but are still looking for something with a healthy helping of laughs, "Hustle" deserves a spot on your watchlist. Sandler delivers a standout performance as Stanley Sugarman, a down-on-his-luck basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who discovers an unpolished but gifted player, Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez), while overseas. Stanley brings him to the U.S. with hopes that Bo will be picked up by the 76ers or another NBA team — and reboot his own career in the process. NBA fans will especially enjoy the many cameos from real players, past and present, but the film's emotional core and Sandler's performance make it resonate with audiences well beyond the sports world. Watch 'Hustle' now on Netflix It's nearly impossible to talk about Sandler's best movies without shouting out his standout romantic comedy "The Wedding Singer." Sandler stars as Robbie Hart, the eponymous singer who's left broken-hearted after his fiancée dumps him at the altar. Robbie's life takes a turn when he meets Julia Sullivan (Drew Barrymore), a waitress working many of the same gigs. As fate would have it, Julia is also engaged, setting the stage for a romantic dilemma. Uncharacteristically sweet for a '90s Sandler film, "The Wedding Singer" marked his first of many collaborations with Barrymore. While the plot hits a lot of familiar tropes, it's the winning combination of comedy and chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore that makes this film shine. Watch 'The Wedding Singer' now on Tubi Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Happy Gilmore' is back for another round, as are Adam Sandler and his longtime collaborator
When you show up for your first day of college, you never know who your roommate will be. You could be assigned a slovenly party animal who makes your life miserable or a studious bookworm you don't see all semester. Or maybe you share a suite with a young Adam Sandler, before either of your careers have even begun, and together you go on to create some of the most successful and enduring comedies of the last 30 years. That is the improbable but blessedly simple origin story of Tim Herlihy, a onetime business and accounting student turned practicing lawyer, whose screenplay credits for his friend Sandler include 'Billy Madison,' about the endearing layabout; the romantic comedy 'The Wedding Singer'; and 'Happy Gilmore,' about a great (but ill-tempered) hockey player who discovers he's a great (but ill-tempered) golfer. Over a decades-long partnership, Herlihy and Sandler have realized their achievements mostly by following wherever their own goofy muses lead them. But now they are about to try something they've almost never done: a sequel. 'Happy Gilmore 2,' which Netflix released on Friday, finds its titular bad boy well into adulthood and more mellowed out. In the star-studded follow-up — whose cast also includes Bad Bunny, Travis Kelce and Benny Safdie — Gilmore is more concerned with the needs of his family and wondering what his legacy will be. Herlihy said the idea of a 'Happy Gilmore' sequel is one that he and Sandler resisted over the years but embraced in 'a weak moment.' 'The reason we made it is the same reason I have a dog,' Herlihy said. 'I'm like, 'No, I'm not getting a dog. No, I'm not getting a dog.' And then one day you're like, 'Well, what if I had a dog?' And then two days later, you have a dog.' As he looks over his career, Herlihy is as surprised as anyone to find himself in a lasting and prolific creative partnership. But he is not too deeply sweating questions about why it works or what it all means. 'It's a fool's errand to try and cultivate a persona,' Herlihy said. 'At a certain point, I'm having the most fun with Adam. I'm doing the best work with Adam. I'm not making compromises with Adam.' Herlihy, 58, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., spoke over lunch earlier this month at a West Village bistro not far from the New York University dormitory where he and Sandler met as freshmen in 1984. As Herlihy recalled their fateful encounter from the day he moved into the dorm, he remembered being impressed by Sandler's apparent self-assurance. 'He seemed to know his way around, and his mother was cleaning the bathroom,' Herlihy said. 'I'm like, they put me with a sophomore?' Sandler, in a video interview, said that Herlihy struck him as similarly confident. 'I said, 'What do you want to do?'' Sandler recalled. 'He goes, 'I think I want to be a billionaire.' Wow — OK. I didn't even think that was possible.' They quickly bonded over their mutual love of movies like 'Caddyshack' and other shared tastes in popular culture. 'I showed up with a Police T-shirt and he had a Rodney Dangerfield T-shirt,' Sandler said. 'We were both the same size, so we traded. I said, 'Can I have that Rodney shirt?' He said, 'If you give me that Police shirt.'' More crucially, when the fledgling Sandler said he was going to start performing stand-up comedy and needed material, Herlihy used a weekend's worth of train rides to and from Poughkeepsie to scribble down some jokes for him. (Today, Herlihy claims not to remember any specific jokes. 'It wasn't the Algonquin Round Table at that point,' he said. 'It's probably even worse than you're imagining.') In the years that followed, as Herlihy attended and graduated from NYU's law school and entered the professional world, he continued to supply Sandler with ideas and material. When Sandler landed at 'Saturday Night Live,' Herlihy helped him devise sketch characters like the slack-jawed Canteen Boy. Together, they wrote the screenplay for what became Sandler's 1995 starring vehicle 'Billy Madison,' trading pages by fax while Herlihy typed late at night on a computer at his law firm. 'Happy Gilmore,' released the following year, was started before 'Billy Madison' was released, but writing a second movie proved no easier for Herlihy and Sandler after having written their first. 'Your first movie, you put your whole heart and soul into, and every joke you ever thought of,' Herlihy explained. 'Then when you have to do another one, you're like, what are we going to do?' Still, Herlihy, who later became an 'SNL' head writer himself, kept going from one Sandler film to the next — 'Happy Gilmore' begat 'The Wedding Singer' which begat 'The Waterboy' — until he looked up and realized he was a motion picture screenwriter. 'Around the time of 'Mr. Deeds,' we started having multiple things happening,' Herlihy said. 'I think I'm going back to the one-at-a-time thing, more out of laziness than anything else. I can only handle one at a time.' For Herlihy, that portfolio included a sequel to 'Happy Gilmore' after the original — which was a modest $40 million hit in 1996 — went on to become a cult phenomenon. As Christopher McDonald — who has acted in some 200 different films and TV shows but is still recognized as Happy Gilmore's malaprop-spouting nemesis, Shooter McGavin — explained, there's one reason for the film's endurance. 'Television, television, television,' McDonald said. 'It went crazy. People started watching and going, 'Oh my god, get the grandkids in here. This is sick — this is generational.' Everybody laughs, and it still holds up.' But writing 'Happy Gilmore 2' proved as challenging as its predecessor. Herlihy and Sandler spent long days in the lobby of Sandler's production company, Happy Madison, moving index cards around a bulletin board, toying with and tossing out plot points, trying to figure out what could motivate Gilmore to pick up his clubs again at this stage of his life. (This time, he's trying to fulfill the ballet-school dreams of his daughter, played by Sandler's real-life daughter Sunny.) The production also required Herlihy to be on set each day and come up with new lines as needed, as he did way back on the original 'Happy Gilmore.' Julie Bowen, the 'Modern Family' star who plays Gilmore's love interest, Virginia, in both movies, recalled Herlihy as gentle and good-natured on that first film — hardly the type of guy who could have helped conceive a now-famous 'happy place' fantasy sequence that had her toting two pitchers of beer while dressed in white lingerie. 'I never felt objectified or stupid,' Bowen said of that scene. 'I felt like I was part of one of the best jokes ever.' On 'Happy Gilmore 2,' Bowen said she saw Sandler and Herlihy working in even greater synchronicity, scouring every take and every joke to get it just right. 'If they see something not working,' she said, 'they're like, 'Give me a second,' and they'll change it. They don't think that they've written Shakespeare and you can't change a comma. It's, let's do the funniest thing that we can.' Kyle Newacheck, who directed 'Happy Gilmore 2,' said it was both thrilling and intimidating to be working together with Sandler and Herlihy, whose name he recognized from Sandler's films and comedy albums like 'They're All Gonna Laugh at You!' 'You can tell that they go way back,' said Newacheck, who previously directed Sandler in 'Murder Mystery.' 'It's one of those relationships where somebody can move a certain way and you know that they don't particularly like that, or they have another pitch or they think they can beat it.' Newacheck added, 'I got an incredible opportunity to sit there with, arguably, the two people that shaped my comedic membrane, and then to add what I thought could be funny. There's nothing better than saying something that makes them laugh.' As far as Sandler is concerned, there is one straightforward reason why his partnership with Herlihy has lasted all this time: 'He's just a good, good man, funnier than everybody. I love him so much. I love every conversation with him. It's exciting to hear what his thoughts are on whatever's going on.' Going all the way back to their first meeting, Sandler said, 'I was like, boy, this guy's quiet. He doesn't talk very much. And then throughout the year, I was like, he's funnier than everybody.' But from Herlihy's standpoint, the collaboration thrives on contrasts between the two longtime friends. Sandler, he said, is the workaholic of the duo, working with other directors, making dramas and comedies and producing films for other writers and performers. 'The more he's doing on a movie, the more he's happy,' Herlihy said. 'I just like time off.' Herlihy also has a unique tie back to their old stomping grounds at 'SNL': his son Martin, a member of the comedy trio Please Don't Destroy, is a writer and performer there, and they occasionally check in to share stories and advice. When Bad Bunny, who has made multiple appearances on 'SNL,' including as host and musical guest, was being considered for a role in 'Happy Gilmore 2,' he asked Martin about him. 'He said he was really funny, but Martin never says anything bad about anybody,' Herlihy said. (As he was happy to discover, 'Bad Bunny had tremendous capabilities that we were not aware of,' Herlihy said.) Whether his own career is ultimately defined by his close association with Sandler, Herlihy said, will be up to history and out of his hands. But he said such distinctions were unlikely to matter in the long run, pointing to the fact that even though he's a screenwriter, he rarely remembers who wrote the movies he has seen. 'I don't know anybody who wrote the Marx Brothers movies,' he said. 'I don't know who wrote 'Kramer vs. Kramer.'' Then his mind went to an even more absurd and over-the-top scenario. 'What if you're a great movie star, you have a fantastic career, and then when you're 70 years old, you get diarrhea on Sunset Boulevard and then your obituary is 'Diarrhea Actor'?' The bottom line, Herlihy said: 'You have no control over your obituary. Just enjoy your family and have some laughs.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Happy Gilmore 2: Adam Sandler revives his cult-classic role after 30 years. Check release date, cast and streaming info
Is 'Happy Gilmore 2' the most hotly anticipated golf movie sequel of all time? In May 2024, Netflix announced that Adam Sandler would reprise his role as Happy Gilmore, a hot-tempered hockey player-turned-golfer, in the sequel to the beloved 1996 golf comedy "Happy Gilmore." "Happy Gilmore isn't done with golf — not by a long shot," the film's synopsis says. "Adam Sandler's short-fused legend swings for a comeback to make his kid's dream come true." Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Analytics CXO Artificial Intelligence Leadership Digital Marketing Product Management Cybersecurity Public Policy Healthcare MCA Data Science Others Design Thinking Finance healthcare Operations Management Management MBA Technology Degree Project Management PGDM others Data Science Skills you'll gain: Data Analysis & Visualization Predictive Analytics & Machine Learning Business Intelligence & Data-Driven Decision Making Analytics Strategy & Implementation Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Applied Business Analytics Starts on Jun 13, 2024 Get Details Happy Gilmore 2 is back First released in 1996, 'Happy Gilmore' stars Adam Sandler, and the movie was one of his first hits. Released just a year after 'Billy Madison' — another Sandler-led millennial favorite — 'Happy Gilmore' cemented Sandler as a goofball hero to the teen and tween set. Now, those fans are all grown up, Sandler is one of Hollywood's biggest stars, and everyone is looking forward to seeing what Happy brings to the table nearly 30 years after the original debuted. What does Happy Gilmore 2 have in store for you? A viewing of the trailer reveals that Happy decides to come out of retirement to pay for his daughter's ultra-expensive ballet school. Live Events Several core characters will be back, including Julie Bowen, Ben Stiller, and McDonald. Notable cameos will include John Daly, Paige Spiranac, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, and Will Zalatoris. How to watch Happy Gilmore 2? 'Happy Gilmore 2' will debut on Netflix on Friday, July 25th. Netflix subscription options start at $7.99/month. "Happy Gilmore 2" will be available to stream on Netflix at 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT on Friday, July 25. What was the plot of Happy Gilmore? In the original film, Sandler plays a professional hockey player named Happy Gilmore who develops a passion for golf. Happy decides to join a golf tournament and win enough money to buy his grandmother's (Frances Bay) home before she loses it. During the tournament, Happy faces off against arrogant golfer Shooter McGavin, who is threatened by him. "With his powerful driving skills and foulmouthed attitude, Happy becomes an unlikely golf hero -- much to the chagrin of the well-mannered golf professionals," the film's synopsis reads. Happy Gilmore 2 entire cast revealed Returning cast members for "Happy Gilmore 2," as per Netflix, include: Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore Julie Bowen as Virginia Venit Ben Stiller as Hal Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin Philip Schneider as Bobby Maxwell Friedman as Gordie Ethan Cutkosky as Wayne Conor Sherry as Terry John Daly as John Daly New cast members include: Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny) Sadie Sandler Sunny Sandler Blake Clark Margaret Qualley
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
29 years after Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler is swinging again
Happy Gilmore was born on the range. When Adam Sandler was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, his father was an avid golfer. He'd often take his son along to hit balls at the driving range. But Sandler was uninterested in the sport, and usually got antsy. 'Why don't you bring a friend?' his dad told him. So Sandler took his buddy, Kyle McDonough, a star hockey player who'd later turn professional. 'He never played before but he was cracking the ball so far,' Sandler recalls. 'So when I started becoming a comedian and me and (Tim) Herlihy were writing stuff and stand-up and talking about movies, I started thinking about a guy who could hit it really big and had a hockey player mentality.' Happy Gilmore, released in 1996, was Adam Sander and Tim Herlihy's second movie, following Billy Madison. Sandler was just exiting Saturday Night Live. Herlihy was Sandler's roommate at New York University and became a lawyer before Sandler got him to stick to writing comedy. (You might remember the Herlihy Boy sketch.) 'We had just done our first movie, Billy Madison, and we put every idea we ever had for a movie in that movie,' says Herlihy. 'So when they said we could do another movie, it was like, 'What are we going to do this movie about?'' Happy Gilmore, released in February 1996, became one of the most beloved comedies of the '90s and codified the hockey-style swing as a mainstay on golf courses. 'A hop, skip and a hit,' as Sandler says. The movie also made comic heroes of Bob Barker, Christopher McDonald and Carl Weathers, and made lines like 'Are you too good for your home?' plausible things to ask golf balls. Like most cult comedies, Happy Gilmore didn't start out an obvious instant classic, though. 'A one-joke 'Caddyshack' for the blitzed and jaded,' wrote EW. 'To describe Happy's antics as boorish is putting it mildly,' wrote The New York Times. Happy Gilmore tells the story of a violent sociopath,' wrote Roger Ebert. He called it 'the latest in the dumber and dumbest sweepstakes.' Sandler was well aware of the checkered history of comedy sequels. Movies like Zoolander 2 and Anchorman 2 have struggled to recapture the freewheeling spirit of the originals. The movie Sandler counts as his favorite, Caddyshack — so much so that he was initially hesitant to make a golf comedy — spawned 1988's woebegone Caddyshack II. In Happy Gilmore 2, co-written by Sandler and Herlihy, Happy is a decorated retired golfer with four sons and a daughter (played by Sandler's daughter, Sunny Sandler). But after a tragic incident and falling on hard times, he's lured back into golf. This time, though, Happy is an insider, motivated to protect the sport. Safdie co-stars as the founder of Maxi Golf, a new circus-like tour with long hitters. 'We thought it could be fun to write something like that' says Sandler. 'It kind of connected to our lives and this age, and wanting to make a full-on comedy. There's nothing better than dropping a comedy and trying to make people laugh, to us. It feels like why we originally got into this business.' Also Read | South Park opens new season with Donald Trump in bed with Satan, takes dig at Paramount for cancelling The Late Show Big, broad comedies have grown almost extinct in the decades since Happy Gilmore. Returning to that style of comedy was, for Sandler and Herlihy, the best reason to make the sequel. For the 58-year-old friends and regular collaborators, it was a chance to riff like they used to. 'We were outlining the story together and then we were like, 'We should watch the first one again, man,'' Sandler says. 'We're going off of our memory of so many things, hanging out with Carl Weathers and Bob Barker and all that stuff. Then we watched it and we were like, 'Oh, yeah.' It was a tone.' 'It made a little more sense than 'Billy Madison,'' says Herlihy, 'but we weren't afraid to swing, swing, swing.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Happy Gilmore' became a cult comedy. 29 years later, Adam Sandler is swinging again
NEW YORK (AP) — 'Happy Gilmore' was born on the range. When Adam Sandler was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, his father was an avid golfer. He'd often take his son along to hit balls at the driving range. But Sandler was uninterested in the sport, and usually got antsy. 'Why don't you bring a friend?' his dad told him. So Sandler took his buddy, Kyle McDonough, a star hockey player who'd later turn professional. 'He never played before but he was cracking the ball so far,' Sandler recalls. 'So when I started becoming a comedian and me and (Tim) Herlihy were writing stuff and stand-up and talking about movies, I started thinking about a guy who could hit it really big and had a hockey player mentality.' 'Happy Gilmore,' released in 1996, was Sander and Herlihy's second movie, following 'Billy Madison.' Sandler was just exiting 'Saturday Night Live.' Herlihy was Sandler's roommate at New York University and became a lawyer before Sandler got him to stick to writing comedy. (You might remember the 'Herlihy Boy' sketch.) 'We had just done our first movie, 'Billy Madison,' and we put every idea we ever had for a movie in that movie,' says Herlihy. 'So when they said we could do another movie, it was like, 'What are we going to do this movie about?'' 'Happy Gilmore,' released in February 1996, became one of the most beloved comedies of the '90s and codified the hockey-style swing as a mainstay on golf courses. 'A hop, skip and a hit,' as Sandler says. The movie also made comic heroes of Bob Barker, Christopher McDonald and Carl Weathers, and made lines like 'Are you too good for your home?' plausible things to ask golf balls. Like most cult comedies, 'Happy Gilmore' didn't start out an obvious instant classic, though. 'A one-joke 'Caddyshack' for the blitzed and jaded,' wrote EW. 'To describe Happy's antics as boorish is putting it mildly,' wrote The New York Times. ''Happy Gilmore' tells the story of a violent sociopath,' wrote Roger Ebert. He called it 'the latest in the dumber and dumbest sweepstakes.' 'Happy Gilmore' was a box-office success, grossing $39 million in the U.S. and Canada. And through worn-out DVDs and regular TV reruns, it became a favorite to generations of golfers and a staple of goofy '90s comedy. 'I can't even tell you how many times I've seen that movie,' says the actor-filmmaker Benny Safdie, who co-directed Sandler in 'Uncut Gems.' 'It was on an endless loop. I had the DVD and I just kept watching it. I can close my eyes and see the movie end to end. It's one of my favorite movies.' Now, nearly three decades later, and after years of batting away pleas for a sequel, Sandler has finally put Happy's Bruins jersey back on. 'Happy Gilmore 2,' which Netflix will debut Friday, is arguably the most anticipated streaming release of the summer. Avoiding a comedy sequel curse Sandler was well aware of the checkered history of comedy sequels. Movies like 'Zoolander 2' and 'Anchorman 2' have struggled to recapture the freewheeling spirit of the originals. The movie Sandler counts as his favorite, 'Caddyshack' — so much so that he was initially hesitant to make a golf comedy — spawned 1988's woebegone 'Caddyshack II.' 'If someone brought it up to us, we were like, 'Yeah, no, we're not going to do that,'' Sandler said in a recent interview alongside Herlihy. 'There was no moment we went 'Aha.' It just kind of happened. The last couple years, we were talking about Happy and how it might be funny if he was down and out.' In 'Happy Gilmore 2,' co-written by Sandler and Herlihy, Happy is a decorated retired golfer with four sons and a daughter (played by Sandler's daughter, Sunny Sandler). But after a tragic incident and falling on hard times, he's lured back into golf. This time, though, Happy is an insider, motivated to protect the sport. Safdie co-stars as the founder of Maxi Golf, a new circus-like tour with long hitters. 'We thought it could be fun to write something like that' says Sandler. 'It kind of connected to our lives and this age, and wanting to make a full-on comedy. There's nothing better than dropping a comedy and trying to make people laugh, to us. It feels like why we originally got into this business.' Big, broad comedies have grown almost extinct in the decades since 'Happy Gilmore.' Returning to that style of comedy was, for Sandler and Herlihy, the best reason to make the sequel. For the 58-year-old friends and regular collaborators, it was a chance to riff like they used to. 'We were outlining the story together and then we were like, 'We should watch the first one again, man,'' Sandler says. 'We're going off of our memory of so many things, hanging out with Carl Weathers and Bob Barker and all that stuff. Then we watched it and we were like, 'Oh, yeah.' It was a tone.' 'It made a little more sense than 'Billy Madison,'' says Herlihy, 'but we weren't afraid to swing, swing, swing.' A supporting cast of PGA winners Cameos, of course, were a major part of 'Happy Gilmore.' (The Bob Barker scene was originally written for Ed McMahon.) In the years since, many of the faces of the original have died, including Barker, Weathers, Frances Bay, the hulking Richard Kiel and Joe Flaherty, who played the heckler. Even the golf ball-stealing alligator, Morris, has passed on. 'Happy Gilmore 2,' unusually elegiac for a proudly silly comedy, nods to all of them. For the sequel, many others, like Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny and Margaret Qualley, were lining up to be a part of it. So were pro golfers. Just about all the big names in golf, including several legends, appear. The day after winning Sunday's British Open, Scottie Scheffler flew to New York for the premiere. Over the years, Herlihy and Sandler have seen a lot of them try 'the Happy Gilmore.' 'I feel like when these golfers try to do it, these pros, they're 5% thinking, 'Maybe this will work,'' says Herlihy, laughing. 'I played with Bryson (DeChambeau) like a week ago and when he did it, it was ridiculous,' adds Sandler. 'He literally blasted it 360 and just kept walking. I was like, 'Did he just smash the Happy Gilmore and not even think about it?'' It's possible that 'the Happy Gilmore' will even outlive the movies. There's a good chance that, even as you read this, somewhere some kid is trying it, hoping to get a laugh and maybe get it on the fairway, too. 'When we were putting it together, I called my dad and asked him if it was legal. He was like, 'I don't see why not,'' Sandler remembers. 'Then there are some people who look at it and go: 'It does help you swing hard. It gives you more momentum. You turn your hips faster. Maybe it's a good thing.'' Solve the daily Crossword
