NOTE: This also appears today on our sister site Leblanguage. Please visit it regularly for coverage of media, sports, politics and life.
Adam Sandler was pretty well known on the Sony lot as a pretty good hang, especially from those who worked for him and his partners at his Happy Madison production company. Cordial and welcoming to just about everyone, rarely working late hours so that he could be home for his family, and always willing to share some bud with anyone who might ask. The few times I met with his team he wasn’t around, but made sure we had a pretty decent commissary spread (I so miss those breakfast burritos) and we could still smell the waft of quality weed in their conference room.
On top of all that, he’s been one of the most bankable commodities for the studio in this century, and especially so for Netflix. A quick little query of Mister Copilot provides some pertinent proof:
- Sandler’s movies consistently land in Netflix’s Top 10 lists worldwide.
- Netflix subscribers have reportedly spent over two billion hours watching his content.
- 🎬 Leo: This animated film became Netflix’s most-viewed animated title ever, racking up 34.6 million views in its debut week.
- 🎬 Murder Mystery: Co-starring Jennifer Aniston, it drew over 73 million households in its first four weeks, making it Sandler’s most-watched live-action Netflix film at the time.
- 🎬 Hustle: A sports drama that earned critical acclaim and a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was praised for Sandler’s performance and authenticity, especially by the NBA community.
- 🎬 You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah: A family comedy starring Sandler’s daughters, it scored 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and was a hit with audiences,
- Sandler’s deal with Netflix has proven to be one of the most successful streaming partnerships to date. Even his less critically acclaimed films like The Ridiculous 6 and The Do-Over broke viewership records at launch.
So if anyone has the gravitas to return to a world we last got a glimpse of nearly 30 years ago, it’s Sandler. and Netflix certainly has the resources to grant him that wish. Hence, we got as their answer to Superhero Summer last weekend’s drop of HAPPY GILMORE 2. And yeah, they even got me to watch, although I confess I wasn’t all that much of a fan of the OG. Beating up Bob Barker hit a little too close to home for me at the time, and besides I sort of wish one of the Price Is Right models he allegedly abused should have had the honors.
Since that seminal movie moment, Happy’s been through the wringer. He went on to a successful professional golfing career and married the love he met on the rise, Julie Bowen’s Virginia Venet–had four kids with her as well, lucky stiff. But tragically and in the WTF style of so many of Sandler’s earlier comedies Venet has since died, the victim of an errant golf shot. He then became an alcoholic who eventually lost all of his success–not to mention three of his children–when his depression and temper rose to even more manic levels that what we saw and actually laughed at in the original film. Relatable? Uh, yup. But at least Happy has some direction and voice of experience from actual pro golfer and recovering alcoholic John Daly, somehow now living as a recluse under Gilmore’s roof. I dare say I could have used such direction myself at one time.
I’ll admit I liked a lot of the inside baseball (well, golf) references that the sequel contains. The plot centers around a competing tour in this case sponsored by an energy drink that seeks out Gilmore as an established name–a not-so-subtle dig at the likes of the LIV tour, fortunately with more cartoonish leadership than the sportswashing Saudis. And since Happy not only has fallen on hard times but now his daughter Vienna–portrayed by Sandler’s real-life daughter Sunny–now wants to go to a ballet school in France that happens to cost $300,000, he’s obliged to take the bait.
And as a result we eventually see a veritable high school reunion, most notably Christopher McDonald’s manic Shooter McGavin, but also Ben Stiller’s Hal L., complete with over-the-top wig and mustache. He’s not the only one so inclined–Dan Patrick looks positively ridiculous in his get-up. But he at least took the liberty of a disguise–Verne Lundquist, sadly barely coherent and even more Jabba-like as he approaches 90 in real life–probably should have done that to make his cameo more palatable. There’s a whole bunch of other stunt casts peppered throughout, ranging from real-world golfers like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler to SNL alum Kevin Nealon as an obnoxious ex-pro TV commentator and rising SNL star Marcello Hernandez as the over-the-top masochistic cousin Esteban to Happy’s new caddy, played tongue-in-cheek by rapper Bad Bunny. Hitching your wagon to that sort of star, as Hernandez did on the show itself, is a pretty shrewd career move.
I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice to say it’s a happy one. Would anything that Sandler is associated with these days not involve that word?
All in all, it’s a nice time-waster and a perfectly acceptable white noise companion for a lazy summer afternoon. And apparently I’m not alone, per POP VIEWERS’ Patrick Curran:
Over the weekend, “Happy Gilmore 2” teed off in a big way, hitting the No. 1 spot on Netflix right after its July 25 premiere.
But even more notable and somewhat less expected was this nugget about how what we call the echo effect was playing out for the franchise, as NETFLIX LIFE’s Bryce Olin reported last week:
Happy Gilmore surged to No. 4 on the Netflix Top 10 this week with more than 4 million views, according to Netflix.
When you’re that popular on a platform that vast, you’re appealing to a lot wider of an audience that just those were fans in the day. While Sandler and his cast and characters have aged, the target audience and appeal has not. The antics we guffawed at in years gone by may not be quite as uproarious to us in–ahem–middle age, but to the folks in that age bracket and younger now they work just as well today as they did on us then. That’s money in the bank for everyone involved.
And yes, Sony renewed the film for another sales cycle on the platform at a time when it under negotiation, and I’m pretty darn sure other product and concessions went along for the ride.
So kudos and huzzahs to Sandler and Sony. Maybe Happy Gilmore isn’t making holes-in-one but he’s still on par enough to be a winner. Keep those breakfast burritos coming. One can get really hungry even from contact highs.
Until next time…