Happy Gilmore 2

Happy Gilmore 2
At a golf course, Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore, stands in front of the audience who is cheering for Happy as he is seen looking at his left while holding on a hockey stick. His Hockey Jersey at the back reads "Gilmore" with the number 18.
Release poster
Directed byKyle Newacheck
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyZak Mulligan
Edited by
  • Brian Robinson
  • Tom Costain
  • J. J. Titone
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • July 25, 2025 (2025-07-25)
Running time
118 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Happy Gilmore 2 is a 2025 American sports comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck, and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. It is a sequel to Happy Gilmore (1996). Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Ben Stiller, and Dennis Dugan reprise their roles from the original film while Benny Safdie and Bad Bunny join the film as new cast members.

Filming for Happy Gilmore 2 took place in New Jersey from September to December of 2024. It was released onto Netflix on July 25, 2025, and received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

After winning his first Tour Championship in 1996,[a] Happy Gilmore has a successful golf career, winning five more championships. He also has five children with his wife Virginia Venit. After accidentally killing Virginia in 2014 when one of his drives hits her in the head, Happy feels devastated and quits golf out of guilt. He soon becomes an alcoholic and loses everything, including the house inherited from his grandmother, after a repossession worker sues him for instigating a brawl when mistaking the worker for a car thief.

11 years later, Happy works at a supermarket and lives with his only daughter and youngest child Vienna, while his four sons—Gordie, Wayne, Bobby, and Terry—have all moved out and are working to support their father and sister. Vienna wants to pursue dancing, and her dance teacher recommends enrolling her in a four-year ballet school in Paris, which costs $75,000 yearly. While working, Happy is approached by Frank Manatee, CEO of Maxi Energy Drink and the new golf league Maxi Golf, which is about to open. Frank wants Happy to be the league's star. Happy refuses, but with encouragement from John Daly, he resumes playing golf, wanting to win enough money to put Vienna through ballet school.

During his first game since Virginia died, Happy gets heavily drunk and crashes his golf cart, which gets him fired from his job and in legal trouble. The courts agrees to remove all charges if he completes a radical alcohol treatment program and refrains from any physical altercations. The leader of the treatment program turns out to be Hal L., the caretaker who abused Happy's grandmother.

Vienna and John advise Happy to practice seriously and to play in the next Tour Championship, which he does. Happy meets old companions, including Doug Thompson, president of the Tour, who worries about Maxi Golf rising fast. After Happy suggests making a competition between the two leagues, Doug proposes a match with the five best players from each league competing against each other. Doug tells the players that the top five of the next Tour Championship will compete against Maxi Golf. Happy, with help from his new caddie Oscar Mejías, makes a good performance at the Tour Championship in the first three rounds, but collapses in the fourth round on Mother's Day, as he sees visions of Virginia on the field and gets drunk, finishing sixth. The winner, Billy Jenkins, reveals that he is actually a part of the Maxi Golf League, having participated in the Tour Championship as a taunt, so Happy becomes eligible to join the competition.

Having been in psychiatric care since losing to Happy at the 1996 Tour Championship,[a] Shooter McGavin is granted a release by Frank, who offers him a spot in his league. He explains to Shooter that all players on the tour, including Billy, have their iliolumbar ligament severed, increasing their driving distance, and asks him to join Maxi Golf as their captain. Disgusted with this as well as Frank's "extreme" version of golf straying too much from the traditional game, Shooter escapes. Having heard about Virginia's death, Shooter visits her grave, and briefly fights Happy there before they call a truce. Happy goes to meet Slim Peterson, Chubbs' son, who forgives him for his father's death. With Slim's and Shooter's coaching, Happy, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler all prepare to face Maxi Golf.

During the matchup, Scheffler gets disqualified in the first round for punching his opponent. Although the field is heavily designed to advantage Maxi Golf, as all their golfers are long drivers, the traditional golfers are able to make it 2-2, with the help of Shooter, who replaces Koepka after he gets injured. Happy and Billy then face off to determine who wins the contest. Happy has a chance to putt for the win, but Frank alters the green to make it impossible to putt. He then makes a deal with Happy: if Happy misses the putt, Happy has to join Maxi Golf. Otherwise, Frank has to fold Maxi Golf, buy Happy's house back, pay for Vienna's ballet school, give Happy his new electric car, and open a new Italian restaurant for Oscar. With help from the lattermost, Happy sinks the putt, winning the contest.

In the aftermath, as Happy is celebrating his three-month sobriety, Hal is exposed as a con artist, and is arrested. Maxi Energy Drink is discontinued after being revealed to cause significant oral health issues, leaving Frank in ruin and in hiding. Happy accompanies his kids to the airport to go to Paris, promising to go join them after completing the British Open. After the plane takes off, he gets ready to drive off only to discover that his new car's battery is dead, prompting him to grab his golf bag and walk down the road.

Cast

  • Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore, a golfer who comes out of retirement
  • Julie Bowen as Virginia, Happy's late wife
  • Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin, Happy's rival who suffered a mental breakdown following his defeat at the end of the first movie
  • Benny Safdie as Frank Manatee, the CEO of Maxi Energy Drink, sponsor of Maxi Golf
  • Bad Bunny as Oscar Mejías, Happy's caddy
  • John Daly as a fictionalized version of himself, a hermit who lives in Happy's garage
  • Ben Stiller as Hal L., the abusive leader of a support group for alcoholics. Stiller reprises his role as Hal L. from both the previous film and Hubie Halloween (2020).[3]
  • Jackie Sandler as Monica, Vienna's dance teacher
  • Sadie Sandler as Charlotte, a member of Hal L.'s support group
  • Sunny Sandler as Vienna, Happy's youngest child and only daughter who is an aspiring dancer
  • Maxwell Jacob Friedman as Gordie, Happy's eldest son
  • Ethan Cutkosky as Wayne, Happy's second son
  • Philip Fine Schneider as Bobby, Happy's third son
  • Conor Sherry as Terry, Happy's youngest son
  • Dennis Dugan as Doug Thompson, the head of the professional golf tour
  • Kevin Nealon as Gary Potter, a sports commentator and former golfer
  • Haley Joel Osment as Billy Jenkins, a young pro-golfer with a powerful swing similar to Happy's who defects to the Maxi Golf team
  • Lavell Crawford as Slim Peterson, son of Happy's late mentor Chubbs who also sports a prosthetic hand due to a vending machine incident
  • Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler as fictionalized versions of themselves, members of the "regular golf" team at the Maxi competition

Steve Buscemi portrays the Gilmores' neighbor Pat, Kym Whitley plays support group member Bessie, and John Farley appears as Nate. Eric André, Martin Herlihy and Margaret Qualley appear as Steiner, Fitzy and Sally, a trio of young golfers whom Happy joins, while Austin Post portrays DJ Omar Gosh. Scott Mescudi plays an FBI agent. WNBA player Kelsey Plum and musician Andrew Watt play the Golf course receptionists.

Marcello Hernandez appears as Oscar's cousin Esteban and Travis Kelce plays Oscar's abusive boss at the club restaurant. Nick Swardson portrays Ben Daggett. Eminem appears as Donald Jr., son of the late heckler (known as the "Jackass" guy) played by Joe Flaherty in the first film.

Verne Lundquist reprises his role as himself from the first film alongside Jack Giarraputo as Jack Beard. Robert Smigel reprises his role as the IRS agent from the first film, now working as a lawyer. Jon Lovitz plays a "dapper" man at a driving range, Rob Schneider appears as a dwarf riding a tricycle in Happy's imagination, and Blake Clark appears as a homeless man living in a beach. Sportscaster Dan Patrick portrays Pat Daniels.

Jenkins' Maxi Golf teammates include Oliver Hudson as Harley, Fernando Marrero as Screech, Reggie Bush as 8-Ball, and Becky Lynch as Flex. Boban Marjanović plays Drago Larson, the son of Happy's late boss Mr. Larson (played by Richard Kiel in the first film) alongside Sandler's mother Judy as Mrs. Larson.

Professional golfers Keegan Bradley, Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Sergio García, Charley Hull, Hunter Mahan, Collin Morikawa, Jack Nicklaus, Corey Pavin, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Lee Trevino (who also appeared in the first film), Bubba Watson, and Will Zalatoris make cameo appearances as themselves. Nelly Korda and Nancy Lopez appears alongside co-writer Tim Herlihy as the doctors overseeing Shooter's release from the mental facility, and Paige Spiranac plays an employee of Dick's Sporting Goods.

Also appearing as themselves are sportscasters Stephen A. Smith, Chris Berman, and Jim Gray, influencer Alix Earle, rapper Cam'ron, game show host Ken Jennings, interviewer Sean Evans, comedy podcasters Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee, and chef Guy Fieri. Dennis Dugan, who directed the original film, was confirmed to be reprising his role as tour commissioner Doug Thompson.[4]

Sandler paid tribute to his late Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, co-star Cameron Boyce. In 2019, Boyce died at the age of 20 due to complications from epilepsy. During one scene, Boyce briefly appears on a television screen showing a clip from the Disney Channel series Jessie (2011–15), which he starred in.

Production

In September 2022, Adam Sandler stated that he hoped to eventually make a sequel to Happy Gilmore, saying he had been creating ideas for what a follow-up film would be, while stating the character would be involved in a senior golf tour.[5] In March 2024, Christopher McDonald revealed that a sequel was in development, and that Sandler had shown him a draft of the script to read.[6]

In May 2024, it was announced that Netflix had greenlit the film, taking over for the first film's distributor Universal Pictures.[7] Kyle Newacheck was hired to direct the film, with Tim Herlihy co-writing the screenplay with Sandler. In July, Nick Swardson announced he would star in the film.[8] In August, Sandler revealed Benny Safdie would have a role in the film,[9] with football player Travis Kelce set to make a cameo.[10] In September, McDonald and Julie Bowen were confirmed to be reprising their roles, with Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman also added to the cast.[11][12][13] John Daly would reveal he had filmed scenes for the film.[14]

Principal photography began on September 9, 2024, in New Jersey, coinciding with Sandler's 58th birthday.[15] A casting call took place at a hotel in Morristown, New Jersey.[16] Filming locations in New Jersey include a country club in Bedminster,[17] a burger shop in Garfield,[18] a golf center in Hackettstown,[19] a nail salon in Maplewood,[20] a beach in Middletown,[21] a deli in Millburn,[22] a French restaurant in Montclair,[22] a cafe in Morristown,[23] a public school in Newark,[24] Seton Hall University in South Orange,[20] Montclair Golf Club in West Orange,[22] Verona Town Hall in Verona Township,[25] a boys & girls club in Kearny, and a Stop & Shop supermarket in Clifton. Filming wrapped on December 10, 2024.[26]

The Times Square Ball replaced by a Happy Gilmore golf ball.

Release

Happy Gilmore 2 premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York City on July 21, 2025.[27] The film was released on Netflix on July 25, 2025.[28]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 65% of 52 critics' reviews are positive.[29] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[30]

Richard Roeper of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "The scatological 'humor' is as low-brow as it gets; either you find it funny or you don't. I've never been a huge fan of that ... stuff, but the physical, Three Stooges material has a certain, admittedly dumb, slapstick appeal. Still, Happy Gilmore makes par through the strength of its sheer stupid energy and the game efforts of Sandler and his 50 or so co-stars. It's good to be back in that Happy Place."[31]

Conversely, Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Other than a running gag revolving around Happy's use of every possible object as a liquor container, the film's main humor involves people being painfully hit by golf balls. By the time the movie ends and you've been assaulted by one tired gag after another, you'll know exactly how they feel."[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b As depicted in Happy Gilmore

References

  1. ^ a b c Scheck, Frank (July 25, 2025). "'Happy Gilmore 2' Review: Adam Sandler's Netflix Sequel Is Terrible — and Fans Will Love It". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  2. ^ "Happy Gilmore 2 (12)". British Board of Film Classification. July 24, 2025. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  3. ^ Richards, Bailey (November 9, 2024). "Happy Gilmore Is Back! Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller Spotted Filming Long-Awaited Sequel in New Jersey". People. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  4. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (November 18, 2024). "'Happy Gilmore' Director Returning for Role in Netflix Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  5. ^ Clayton, Davis (September 29, 2022). "Adam Sandler Talks 'Hustle,' Hosting 'SNL' This Season and Being Open to 'Waterboy' Sequel: 'I Love Mama'". Variety. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  6. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (March 22, 2024). "Happy Gilmore 2 Script in the Works From Adam Sandler, Says Original Film Star". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  7. ^ Grobat, Matt (May 15, 2024). "Happy Gilmore Sequel Greenlighted At Netflix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  8. ^ Chinman, Luke (August 7, 2024). "Happy Gilmore 2: All About Adam Sandler's Follow-Up to His '90s Comedy Classic". People. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  9. ^ Perella, Vincent (August 21, 2024). "Adam Sandler Confirms Benny Safdie Is in Happy Gilmore 2 and Says That His Josh Safdie Baseball Film Is 'Hopefully Going to Come Back'". IndieWire. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  10. ^ Evans, Greg (August 21, 2024). "Adam Sandler Says Travis Kelce Set For Happy Gilmore Sequel Cameo". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  11. ^ Galuppo, Mia (September 10, 2024). "Bad Bunny Joins Adam Sandler in 'Happy Gilmore 2' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  12. ^ "Margaret Qualley reveals how she got the part in Adam Sandler's 'Happy Gilmore 2'". The International News. September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  13. ^ Kroll, Justin (September 27, 2024). "Professional Wrestling Star Maxwell Jacob Friedman Joins Adam Sandler In 'Happy Gilmore 2'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  14. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (September 27, 2024). "Happy Gilmore 2: Infamous Pro Golfer John Daly Reveals He Filmed Role in Netflix Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  15. ^ Harrison, Scoop (September 9, 2024). "Happy Gilmore 2 Officially Begins Production, Adam Sandler Reveals". Consequence Film. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  16. ^ Morel, Kyle (August 21, 2024). "The casting call for 'Happy Gilmore 2' drew a massive crowd to this small New Jersey town". Golfweek. New Jersey Herald. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  17. ^ "'Happy Gilmore 2 ' Filming to Start at Fiddler's Elbow in Upcoming Weeks". TAPinto. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  18. ^ Ahmad, Manahil. "This North Jersey restaurant will be a filming spot for 'Happy Gilmore' sequel". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  19. ^ Barron, Sam (September 17, 2024). "Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow Spotted Filming 'Happy Gilmore 2' At Hackettstown Golf Course". Hackettstown Daily Voice. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  20. ^ a b "VIDEO: Adam Sandler Spotted Filming in South Orange & Maplewood". The Village Green. September 13, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  21. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (September 17, 2024). "See photos of Adam Sandler on 'Happy Gilmore 2' set in N.J." nj.com. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  22. ^ a b c Gallotto, Tony. "NJ Goes 'Ga-Ga' for 'Happy Gilmore' Star Adam Sandler". TAPinto. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  23. ^ Ahmad, Manahil. "Here's where Adam Sandler is filming 'Happy Gilmore 2' in NJ". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  24. ^ Kiefer, Eric (September 30, 2024). "'Happy Gilmore 2' Films In Newark; City Adds To Its Hollywood Resume". Newark, NJ Patch. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  25. ^ Ahmad, Manahil. "Latest Adam Sandler North Jersey spotting comes in Verona while filming 'Happy Gilmore 2'". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  26. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (December 10, 2024). "Adam Sandler Celebrates 'Happy Gilmore 2' Wrapping Shoot, Teases Possible Release Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  27. ^ "PGA TOUR stars hit red carpet for Netflix's 'Happy Gilmore 2' premiere at Lincoln Center". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  28. ^ Grobar, Matt (February 13, 2025). "'Happy Gilmore 2's Conor Sherry Signs With Anonymous Content". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
  29. ^ "Happy Gilmore 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  30. ^ "Happy Gilmore 2". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  31. ^ Roeper, Richard (July 25, 2025). "Happy Gilmore 2". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
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