![Happy Gilmore]()
Christopher McDonald played Shooter McGavin in the original
Happy Gilmore movie and established himself as one of the greatest villains in the history of cinema. When McDonald said about two months ago that
a sequel was on the way and that he'd seen a script, it still felt like something of a pipe dream, barring an official announcement.
Well, well, well. We have that official announcement now. Netflix dropped the news on Wednesday that another movie starring Adam Sandler's mercurial hockey player-turned-legendary golfer will be making a long-awaited comeback.
https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1790823466087633355
Understanding that streaming is where the entertainment industry is headed, I will be royally pissed off if
Happy Gilmore 2 doesn't get a full-blown, wide theatrical release. At the same time, Sandler has a major contract at Netflix, and that's a big reason why this project got the green light in the first place. Taking a chance on a long-gestating sequel that'll probably come out in late 2025 at the earliest is a bold move indeed. However, Sandler is a big draw on his own, and Happy is definitely one of his most beloved characters.
If McDonald has seen a script, that means Shooter is coming back, too. My question is, what in the world is the story going to be? The original 1996 flick was a long time ago. It was also one of the first movies Julie Bowen was ever in, and she's gone on to be a major success primarily thanks to the sitcom
Modern Family.
It's in vogue to make aged characters burnout types, but in the case of Happy, that would actually be apropos. He's a loose-cannon man-child who could barely keep his cool enough to win on the PGA Tour despite the capability to drive the ball over 400 yards with ease. I could see a scenario where the love story between Happy and Bowen's Virginia Venit doesn't end so well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qaAKxJp0EM
If they go that direction, it might be too dark or self-serious. Oh and I have one very real demand for this upcoming movie: Please bring back Kevin Nealon's character and have him be Happy's coach/mentor. I gotta feel that flow again.
Not gonna lie, I'm grasping at straws trying to figure out what the hell
Happy Gilmore is even going to be. My best guess, really, is that Shooter is making his last stand as a pro golfer at the highest level before he has to retire or join the Senior/Champions Tour. Maybe Happy hasn't had the success he should because he can't dial in consistently enough, or still struggles to keep his temper in check. Think Pat Perez
meets John Daly minus the tobacco use, with Tiger Woods' upside.
You also have to wonder if Sandler and his collaborators take the big swing of either Happy or Shooter having kids at this later phase of their lives. What if they had rival sons who were coming up to the PGA Tour? That'd be neat, but it'd also detract from what should be the central conflict between them.
Since my storytelling chops aren't up to the task with formulating a decent hypothetical
Happy Gilmore 2 plot at the minute — forgive me, the highly anticipated NFL schedule release is about to happen — how about some fun food for thought to finish this thing off? In Sandler's 2020 Netflix comedy
Hubie Halloween, not only was Julie Bowen, but Ben Stiller's orderly from
Happy Gilmore made a cameo. If he's popping up in a rather obscure Sandman comedy, Stiller's Hal better return for the next
Happy Gilmore installment.
https://twitter.com/moviedetail/status/1313997322498510848
