Happy Gilmore Review

Sentinel online. Now loading the Geekcast radio

network of podcasts. For 400 years, golf has

been a gentleman's game. A game of tradition,

etiquette, and above all, sportsmanship. Until

now. Y 'all ready for this? He was a hockey player...

It's my puck, baby! Don't you ever touch my puck!

...who was skating on thin ice. But when his

grandma needed his help... Mrs. Gilmore owns

the IRS. $270 ,000. We're gonna have to sell

the house to someone else. But she's an old lady.

I mean, look at her. She's old. ...he discovered

a new talent. She's like 400 yards away. It's

unbelievable. Now he's going from the rinks.

Step right up, mom! See if you can out -drive

the amazing golf ball, uh, wacker guy. to the

Lynx. Hey, where you going with one of those

clubs, punk? I'm your carry. He's gonna be on

the tour. That's super. He's got the swing. He's

got the drive. He shoots, he scores! He's got

all the balls. God, I hurt a little, but I'm

all right. What a large and economically diverse

crowd here at The Invitational. I guess it's

the new tour sensation, Happy Gilmore. Hey, if

I saw myself in clothes like those, I'd have

to kick my own ass. And while he's trying to

keep Granny out of the rest home... I'm telling

you, this place is perfect. You're gonna make

friends in no time. He's driving the game of

golf. Why didn't you just go home? That's your

home! Are you too good for your home? Hello and

And welcome to the sixty second episode of the

Mwire. Today we are going to be discussing in

the Sandler Spotlight, Happy Gilmore. I am TF2

on Mike and joining me is Steve Megatron who

is back from vacation. Yes, hello. How are you

sir? Little tired. Yeah, well, I've been up all

night so. You're nuts. Well, I figured that if

I went to sleep after we finished recording beatcast

radio episode 18 that I Wouldn't be Awake right

now, so I figured screw it. I might as well stay

awake I found me a couple of episodes of Phineas

and Ferb and then after the infomercials took

over I found me a law and order so that that

was that that worked Yeah So, how have you been?

It's been a while since we've done an MWIRE episode.

Yes, it has. Doing pretty well. Many side projects

going on, but other than that, still plugging

away with everything here. Back to the daily

grind. Yeah, that's true. But, you know. Not

bad, though. Nope, not bad at all. Yeah, I'm

doing pretty much the same stuff obviously in

your own vacation, so we kind of had a late week

over at the website And as I said, it's it's

been a while since we've done an M wire I wanted

to be able to get the DVDs for Gilmore and Wedding

Singer and Waterboy, but that just didn't happen

luckily ABC Family showed Gilmore over the weekend,

so I was very Convenient. So, yes. Happy Gilmore

is a 1996, what? I didn't say a word. Oh, I must

be hearing, I must be hallucinating. Probably.

1996 American sports comedy film directed by

Dennis Duggan and produced by Robert Simons for

Universal Pictures. It stars Adam Sandler as

the title character, an unsuccessful hockey player

who discovers a talent for golf. The screenplay

was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy. The film

was first of several collaborations between Sandler

and Duggan. So when was the first time you saw

Happy Gilmore? Hello? Yes, probably since I've

been with my wife. It was the first time I've

seen it. Okay. So you didn't see it back in the

90s? No. Really? No. Oh my god. You need to turn

in your Adam Sandler geek card right now. Oh

boy. I never saw this in theaters, but I do remember

seeing it on, at the time VHS was still going

out of style, so 9798 is when I saw this. Oh

nice. Yes. Getting to the plot here. Happy Gilmore,

played by Adam Sandler, is an aspiring ice hockey

player who masters in powerful and dangerous

slap shot that his late father taught him. As

a child, however, his aggression and poor skating

ability render him unable to join any hockey

team. His grandmother, with whom he has lived

almost all his life, has not paid her taxes for

many years, as such she owes $270 ,000. to the

IRS and the house that Happy's grandfather built

with his bare hands is about to be seized. Grandma

Gilmore is forced to temporarily move into a

retirement home run by Hal, the retirement home's

unpleasant and cruel manager played by Ben Stiller

in an uncredited role. While repossessing grandma's

furniture, a pair of movers challenge Happy to

hit golf balls, and his unorthodox hockey slap

shot hits 400 yards three times, winning $40

as a result. This gives Happy the idea to go

to the driving range to hustle golfers with his

swing. When former golf star and current club

pro Chubbs Peterson, played by Carl Weathers.

Oh wow, you got Apollo. I forgot that was Apollo

in this. Wow. He was forced to retire when his

hand was bitten off by an alligator. sees Happy's

shot and convinces Happy to entering the local

tournament by telling him he can make the money

to buy back his grandmother's house. Happy wins

in the tournament and earns a spot in the pro

golf tour. Chubbs advises Happy to hold off on

joining the tour so that Chubbs can make him

a better all -around golfer. Against Chubbs'

advice, Happy joins the tour immediately after

learning he can make enough money to buy back

grandma's house. Are we sensing a plot point

here? I've said that exactly twice, he has to

make enough money to buy back Grandma's house.

On the tour, Happy makes an instant enemy of

pretentious and arrogant star pro shooter McGavin,

played by Christopher McDonald, who sees Happy

as a determined to golf and tries to thwart any

attempt to steal his thunder. In addition, Happy

discovers that although he has powerful drive,

his putting is terrible, and his violent outbursts

and the lack of golf etiquette cause him problems,

which gives Shooter an opening to ask Doug Thompson,

uh, who's actually played by, um, Dennis Duggan,

or Duggan, or whatever his name is. Duggan. Yeah,

Duggan. Whatever. Duggan! Um... then to head

of oh wait what oh No, no, this is the pro This

is the head of the tour guy the head of the tour

to excel happy happy's antics are garnering the

tour's highest television ratings in bringing

more fans to the tournament and shooters request

is denied to help happy cool down a start Acting

more professionally tour PR head Virginia Bennett.

It's supposed to I thought it was supposed to

be Bennett is assigned to him by the Tour. In

addition to relationship forming between the

two, Happy begins to develop a cooler head while

continuing to improve in tournaments much to

the chagrin of Shooter. Who decides to take matters

into his own hands and hired Donald, a mentally

unbalanced fan of Shooters, played by Joe Flaherty,

to heckle Happy at the next tournament, a Celebrity

Pro -Am. Now, the funny thing about Joe Flaherty,

he was in Back to the Future 2. As what? I don't

remember off the top of my head, but he was in

Back to the Future 2 and the only reason why

I know this, and this is a complete pimpage of

This Week in Geek, Mike Birdman Dodd and Steve

Snowball Saylor did their commentary on Back

to the Future 2 and they mentioned he was in

Back to the Future part, no, he was in part 3.

He was, oh, he was the Western Union guy at the

end. Yeah, so He was the western union guy in

back to the future part three in the beginning

of the movie When he's like kid kid, what's all

that? What's this all about? So the jackass guy

was in back to the future three. Holy crap At

the tournament where Happy is paired with Bob

Barker, Donald starts distracting and intimidating

him by shouting out, Jackass! When he is taking

his swing, he takes Happy's focus off the game

so much that he plays terribly. Exasperated at

Happy's poor performance, Barker even begins

heckling him before they break into a full -scale

brawl, which Barker wins and is also enough to

have. Happy suspended from the tour and fined

$25 ,000. All is not lost as Happy secures an

endorsement deal with Subway, which gives him

enough money to buy back Grandma's house and

pay the fine. What Happy doesn't know is that

the house is being sold at an auction, and he

isn't able to buy it. He then discovers that

in further effort to get Happy to stop playing

golf, Shooter has bought the house. It was...

shit. Shooter has bought the house himself in

order to make a deal. Happy can have the house

back on the grounds he quits the Tour. As the

house is his sole motivation for playing the

golf, Happy immediately accepts but is talked

out of it by Virginia who says Grandma would

much rather see Happy succeed at life than get

a house back. Happy then makes a bet with Shooter.

If Happy finishes higher at the Tour Championship,

he gets the house back. If Shooter finishes higher,

Happy quits the Tour and golf for good. So what

are you thinking so far here? I'm thinking Very

good movie. Yes, I Like the music and I don't

think we're to the point Yeah, we're coming up

to the point where they go to the miniature golf

course. I like the It's almost like acapella

type stuff. It's like I don't know. It's some

weird like Beat music. I don't know what it is,

but I like that. It was really cool Shooter is

just a jackass himself I mean Shooter is not

the type of character that you root for whatsoever

Yeah Yeah, so Although Shooter agrees to the

bet, Happy realizes that he needs to get better

and hurry if he wants to win. And sneaks out

Chubbs. And seeks out Chubbs. Together they head

to a mini golf course so Happy can improve his

putting, which he does. As a token of his gratitude,

Happy gives Chubbs a present, the head of the

alligator that took his hand, which Happy had

killed in an earlier tournament while retrieving

his ball. Oh boy. The gift does not have the

intent Happy planned on as Chubbs is startled

by it and stumbles back, causing him to fall

out the open window to his death. Determined

to win the Tour Championship for Chubbs, Happy

goes head -to -head with Shooter. Shooter is

stunned that Happy has been keeping up with him,

and by the end of the third day on the tournament,

Happy is leading Shooter. Determined to win the

tournament, which he has never done, Shooter

once again calls on Donald. The next day, the

shooter's plan comes to action as Donald hits

Happy with a Volkswagen Beetle. He proceeds to

ram it into a television tower at the 18th hole.

Happy is moderately injured and has lost the

ability to hit the long drive, and as such drops

from the lead and trails Shooter by several shots,

heading into the final holes. However, after

applying a lesson from Chubbs, he receives an

important morale boost from Grandma. who had

come to watch the tournament, and he is able

to refocus and ties for the lead going into the

18th hole. Now... I laughed so hard after he

got hit and he's like, Ah, Volkswagen! Yeah,

he is funny when he gets hurt of any kind in

this movie. As he gets quite a beating quite

often. Yeah. I still love the Bob Barker fight

though. Oh, yeah, the price is wrong, bitch.

That was just cool to see Bob Barker as an asshole.

Yeah, that's so funny. You never see Bob Barker

as an asshole. You don't even really see Bob

Barker that much anymore. No. You see Drew Carey.

Yeah. However, after applying a lesson from Chubbs

and receiving important morale boosts from Rama

18th hole, after Shooter makes his shot from

par, the TV tower collapses and blocks Happy's

shot. For Birdie, Happy is forced to play his

shot with the tower in the way, and once again

uses what Chubbs taught him to make a trick shot

to win the Tour Championship and the house. What'd

you think of the trick shot? I don't remember

There was a golf there was a mini golf course

at the mini golf course there was a hole that

was it was earthquake So the building got knocked

over the freeway got split Yeah, basically the

same thing happens at the actual golf course

where the TV tower falls over it hits the car

that was there and and just blocks the entire

pathway and basically happy uses the exact same

method that he did on the mini golf course for

this and once he hits the ball it bounces off

the Volkswagen and it goes through all these

tubes and everybody's like you know ping -pong

ping -pong and then it goes in the hole and happy's

like yeah and of course Shooter isn't really

beat up by Happy's old boss, Mr. Larson, but

what happens is, Shooter says no, he steals the

jacket from Doug, and then he's chased down by

Mr. Larson, an angry mob of spectators. The film

closes with Happy being congratulated by the

two in it ghost of chubs, Abraham Lincoln and

the alligator. Which, what the hell does Abraham

Lincoln have to do with it? I know, really? I

mean, he just, it's a random person. Yup. Yes.

Very, very much so. Yes, the president's like,

yes, you were very good. And that is what I say

because I'm honest. Chubbs does come back. Not

in this movie. He comes back in Little Nicky.

Oh, does he? I have seen him thinking forever.

Huh, interesting. Yeah, he's in the Heaven scene,

so you'll have to pay attention for that. Oh,

okay. At least he went to Heaven. Yes. So this

was, I mean, Billy Madison was technically Sandler's

first big role, but this was the one that kind

of put him over the top as far as his career.

I mean, Happy Gilmore has become a classic. And

it also started his sports movie obsession. Yep.

Which he will have many more of. Yep. Some better

than others. Yeah. I think one of the main reasons

why I really like this, and I don't know why,

I don't remember where this actually takes place.

I don't remember where the film takes place,

but he's always wearing Boston Bruins stuff.

And obviously me being a huge Boston fan because

I'm from Boston, that was awesome. Yeah, I think,

yeah, he does wear that quite often. I think

he does it again in, uh, anger management. Yeah,

that's a wide setting in too. He wears the the

black and gold Boston Bruins home jersey And

then he wears the white and gold away Jersey

at one point. He also has a Boston Bruins hat

at one point so Christian McDonald as we said

very very good actor. He was also the The voice

of Jor -El in the Superman Animated series. Oh

really very cool. Yeah, he was only in three

episodes of it um obviously since they had to

tell the origin story of superman and krypton

blew up but because i was like when i first saw

superman the animated series the first three

part of the last center krypton i'm like wait

what is shooter mcgavin doing in superman so

i thought that was kind of cool uh julia bowen

she was okay she's not She's attractive, but

she's not that attractive. No, but as you'll

see in future Adam Sandler films, he gets some

real good ones. Well, yeah, I drew Barrymore.

Well, duh, that's why she's in two of them. Yes,

yes she is. And then you have Frances Bay as

Happy Gilmore's grandma. She took Happy Gilmore

as a child. She did a really good job for that

character, I think. It was funny when Ben Stiller

was Abusing the old people. Yeah, and then finally

happy kicks his ass. Yeah, I Thought it was really

funny when happy knocked the the air conditioner

Out the window and it landed on the old lady.

She's like mister mister. Help me get this thing

off for me Yeah, that was funny and happy's like

uh grandma i gotta go you know that mista mista

lady i think i killed her um and of course carl

weathers as chubbs peterson um really really

good performance i didn't even really recognize

him as carl i didn't even i didn't even put two

and two together at all um you got alan covert

as the auto the hobo caddy he's alright david

k was in this oh yeah that's right we'll get

to that um kevin nealon as gary potter that was

a creepy character that was weird kevin nealon

kind of plays a lot of weird ass characters since

his days of saturday night live he's played in

a lot of adam sandler films as like this strange

man that you wouldn't want to know yeah ever

exactly um and then you got uh let's see Lee

Trevino oh my god as head nodding guy first appears

after happy misses a drive and goes on expletive

laced rant to which happy apologizes for causing

him to walk away disgusted He appears again after

Chubbs' death when shooter Muckingland replies

to Happy. Yeah, and Grizzly Adams had a beard.

In Trevino's response, Grizzly Adams did have

a beard. Trevino won six majors during his PGA

career. Bob Barker, Ben Stiller, and Ellie Harvey

as registrar. As you said, K's role was it just

like a cameo? Yes, he was the news reporter.

oh that's right that's right he was in there

maybe 15 20 seconds and then he was gone that's

right that's right um i guess getting into the

reception here uh as far as critical response

well heavy gilmore received negative responses

upon release critical reaction has somewhat warmed

to the film, Brian Lowry of Variety stated that

the general tone nevertheless makes it difficult

to elevate the gags beyond an occasional chuckle.

Lowry only noted a few scenes where he found

inspired including the fight scene with Bob Barker

and when Happy attempts to find his quote -unquote

happy place which is described as feline -esque.

Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote that

the humor of the film simply doesn't deliver.

Oh god, here we go. Asshat Ebert gave the film

one and a half stars out of four stating that

Adam Sandler's character doesn't have a pleasing

personality, he seems angry even when he's not

supposed to be, and his habit of pounding everyone

he dislikes is tiring in a PG -13 movie. Ebert

also noted that the film's product placement

stating that he probably missed a few, but counted

Diet Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Subway Sandwich

Shops, Budweiser in Bottles and Cans, Bud Dispensing

Helmets, Michelob, Visa Cards, Ball Atlantic,

AT &T, Sizzler, Wilson, Golf Digest, ESPN Sports

Network, and Top Flight Golf Balls. Movies are

all about product placement. I mean, you're gonna

list all that crap in Happy Yelmore, and you're

not gonna notice all the stuff that's... and

this isn't a knock against Back to the Future,

but in Back to the Future movies, they had a

lot of product placement in the first two movies.

I mean, you can't stop product placement in films.

There's just no way to do it. Because that's

how they get their money, part of the way, because

of sponsorships. On Rotten Tomatoes the film

received a score of 59 % based on 48 reviews

The box office response was a respectable box

office hit ranking number two at the box office

on its debut weekend with 8 .5 million in revenue

in total it made 41 million worldwide with 38

million of that domestic very cool Overall happy

Gilmore. I don't care what the critics say it

has become a cult classic it has become one of

Adam Sandler's most recognizable films I Mean

when you think of Adam Sandler the at least the

first the top five that I can think of is happy

Gilmore Billy Madison wedding singer water boy

and Big daddy yeah for his originals. Yeah exactly

I mean he's got good ones too from the end half

of them too but yeah like mr. yeah oh yeah yeah

so overall I really enjoyed it what about you

oh I really like this movie I mean my wife's

not for being an Adam Sandler buff she doesn't

like this one as much and prefers not to watch

it very much, but I still like to watch it because

I just like the way everything plays off in this

film. You need to get her head checked if that's

the case. Well, she likes it, but it's not her

favorite. She loves Milly Madison and the sword.

So, I mean, she's... There's certain Adam Sandman

films that she prefers not to watch very often,

which are usually his serious roles. Adam Sandler

while I get that he wants to and I'll probably

say this more throughout the Adam Sandler spotlight

stuff, but Well, I understand actors want to

branch out He should you know and grow and all

that he shouldn't really I mean if you want to

grow in your humor fine but if you want to grow

like into serious roles like Spanglish and and

What's another serious role he did? Rain over

me punch drunk love. Yeah punch or love. She

swears is the worst movie He's ever done. So

that is one that we don't own. Yeah, we own every

other movie of his except for that one. Yeah

It's a remake anyway on top of it, but still

yeah. Yeah Overall this movie is awesome at least

I think it is it it's a good story. It's got

a good hook It's got basic, beginning, middle,

end. You know, it's got, you know, hero's struggle.

And, you know, the plot may be reused, but I

mean, what isn't reused in Hollywood these days?

Oh yeah, especially with them wanting to make

more of the same damn films. Yep. Any other thoughts

on Happy Yore? You haven't seen it, see it. become

one of your favorites. If not, be favored. Yes.

Alright, thank you for joining us here on MWIRE

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hope you enjoyed this episode of M .W .A .R.

I wish you'll join us next time when we'll be

reviewing in the Sandler Spotlight Volume 1,

The Wedding Singer. All you Billy Idol fans,

get ready. Oh yeah. Talk about a white wedding.

For now, I am TF2 and Mike with Steve Megatron

Phillips. Thank you for listening, until next

time. All right. Thanks, man. Tell your friends.

Step right up, folks. See if you can out -drive

the amazing golf ball wacker guy. That's great.

Very good. And those knees. Remember now, it's

all in the hips. You're doing great. It's all

in the hips. All right, 15 bucks, I can hit it

over the highway. Any takers? That's real good.

So long, sucker. You're like a freak. How often

do you play? Never. This is my first time. Hey,

you should play in the Waterbury Open tomorrow.

Yeah. Yeah, all right, I'll see you guys there.

He's gonna play. My God, he's gonna win. Happy!

Hey, where you going with those clubs, punk?

Mr. Gilmore, I'm your caddy. Oh, I'm sorry about

that. No, no, no, let me carry these, all right?

They're my grandfather's. They're pretty old.

Well, what should I do then? I don't know. Why

don't you just watch me and make sure I don't

do anything stupid, okay? Mr. Gilmore, Mr. Lafferty

will be teeing off now. All right. Good luck,

buddy. Get out of the way. We're worried on that

one, dipshit. It is about time. I mean, I just

couldn't get the ball in the hole. I wanted to

but I just couldn't do it. You wanna beat Shooter

McGavin? Yeah! You're gonna die, clown! You think

that's funny? I don't hear you laughing now!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Enough, enough. What? I can't

do it! In a world... There, I said it. Happy?