Was I Too Hard on "Happy Gilmore"?

I wrote up a post long ago about my feelings towards Adam Sandler, who made a lot of hit movies I didn't like and a lot of smaller, weirder films that I did.  I had long resolved to stop watching his mainstream comedies and just focus on his more critically acclaimed projects like "Uncut Gems" and the upcoming "Jay Kelly."  However, upon hearing that "Happy Gilmore 2" was getting pretty decent critical notices, I decided to revisit the original "Happy Gilmore," and to my surprise I liked what I saw.

I don't have a clear recollection of when or in what circumstances I first watched "Happy Gilmore" and "Billy Madison," Sandler's first two major films.  I just remember that Sandler's screen persona was a lot cruder and more physically aggressive than the leads of most comedies at the time.  He seemed to fly into destructive rages a lot, and Roger Ebert famously wrote that he didn't have a "pleasing personality" when remarking on Sandler's performance in "Happy Madison."  When I was a kid, onscreen aggression of any kind came across to me as threatening and sinister, so I'm not surprised that I didn't find him funny.     

I still don't like Happy Gilmore much as a character, but I understand more of his appeal.  Specifically, Gilmore represents a now instantly recognizable type of underachieving blue collar young male living with a lot of frustration and not many opportunities.  Unlike some of the other, later Sandler leads, he's not especially mean-spirited or crass.  He just has a lot of impulse control issues, which he's eventually able to improve.  He works great as the hero of "Happy Gilmore," where an unpolished wannabe hockey player shows up snooty soccer pros and disrupts the golfing establishment. Sandler is pretty sympathetic and easy to root for here, instead of puerile and overbearing the way he comes across his less successful comedies.

What really struck me with this watch was that the supporting cast does a lot of the heavy lifting. Christopher McDonald as Gilmore's rival Shooter McGavin, and Carl Weathers as Gilmore's intensely committed coach, provide big personalities for Gilmore to play off of.  I loved seeing Richard Kiel get to menace people again, and appreciated the pure absurdity of the Bob Barker fistfight.  The cameos from Kevin Nealon and Ben Stiller are brief, but just enough to be memorable.  This is also easily the best movie I've seen from director Dennis Dugan.  The comedy always comes first, but the sports competition tropes are executed well, so the golfing is actually fun to watch.  

However, I don't like the attempts at romance at all.  The moments of Gilmore's jackassery I can't forgive are the ones aimed at Virginia, played by Julie Bowen.  Adam Sandler also co-wrote the movie with Tim Herlihy, and It was very disappointing to realize that their idea of the right girl for Happy Madison is a pretty, bland woman whose most prominent characteristic is not showing any sign of being upset when men are being abhorrent to her.  There are a few scenes where it's like she suddenly stops being able to understand English when Gilmore says something particularly crass.

This is acknowledged and corrected in "Happy Gilmore 2," which picks up twenty-five years later.  I found it mildly enjoyable, though Sandler's persona has totally changed from anarchic outsider to aging dad, and Happy Gilmore follows suit.  In a total reversal, he's now trying to save "traditional golf" from being destroyed by an obnoxious Xtreme sports style "Maxi Golf" league backed by an evil energy drink CEO (Benny Safdie).  Pretty much every surviving cast member from the original film returns, and a lot of time is taken up with tributes to the departed ones.        

But more than anything, "Happy Gilmore 2" emphasized that I did have some affection for the original movie, even if my feelings remain mixed on Adam Sandler's performance in it.  And my relationship with Sandler as a performer remains very complicated.  If we get any more late sequels to the likes of "Billy Madison" or "The Waterboy," however, I might be convinced to give those titles a rewatch too, for old times' sake.

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