Happy Gilmore (1996)

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Happy Gilmore popped up on Netflix after a bad day, and it struck me that it's one of those films that I'm always happy to watch. It's terribly silly: Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is an unsuccessful hockey player who discovers that his powerful swing is very well suited to golf. His behaviour on the pro tour is positively scandalous -- swearing at the ball, recruiting a homeless man as a caddy etc. -- but attracts wide interest from atypical demographics.

What really makes it work is the great Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin, an insufferably sleazy pro who resents the attention paid to Happy. The expected story beats are also structured around a series of running gags, with callbacks making them seem more natural and less forced.

Director Dennis Dugan barely does the script justice and it's shot like a TV sitcom, but it's just so much fun.

- Sam - 2021-05-18 23:33:38