Does Sandler Sequel Make Critics Happy?

Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2 is finally here, nearly 30 years after the first film. How are Rotten Tomatoes critics reacting to the film?

Rated PG-13, Happy Gilmore 2’s logline reads, “Happy Gilmore returns!” Julie Bowen reprises her Happy Gilmore role as Virginia Venit for the sequel, as does Christopher McDonald as Happy’s rival, Shooter McGavin.

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Also starring in the sequel are Ben Stiller, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny), Travis Kelce, John Daly and Margaret Qualley and several stars from showbiz and professional golf.

Directed by Kyle Newacheck (who directed Sandler’s Murder Mystery) and written by Sandler and his original Happy Gilmore co-scribe Tim Herlihy, Happy Gilmore 2 premieres on Netflix on Friday.

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As of this publication, Rotten Tomatoes critics have collectively given Happy Gilmore 2 a 64% “fresh” review based on 14 reviews. Audiences, meanwhile, have given the film a 73% Popcornmeter score based on 250-plus verified user ratings.

RT’s Critics Consensus is still pending.

What Do Individual Critics Have To Say About ‘Happy Gilmore 2’?

Only two of RT’s top critics have reviewed Happy Gilmore 2 so far.

Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence gives the film a “fresh” rating on RT, writing, “Between Happy’s family life and a whole new series of challenges for him to tackle, there’s enough freshness to the plot to keep it from feeling like a total rehash of what came before, while still delivering wild golf stunts and a huge range of cameos.”

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On the flip side, Nick Schager of The Daily Beast gives the film a “rotten” rating on RT, writing that Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2 is “arguably the least inspired film in the actor’s canon, if not all of movie history.”

Of RT’s top critics who haven’t posted on the review aggregation site yet, Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter says it all in his headline, which partially reads, “Adam Sandler’s Netflix Sequel Is Terrible — and Fans Will Love It.”

“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,” Scheck writes on THR. “By the time the movie ends and you’ve been assaulted by one tired gag after another, you’ll know exactly how they feel.”

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Owen Gleiberman’s Happy Gilmore 2 review for Variety is much more on the positive side, as he writes that the film “is a happy orgy of raucously well-executed Adam Sandler fan service.”

“It’s a pointed exercise in nostalgia, but with a present-tense edge,” Gleiberman writes in Variety. “It’s not some fake update of the clever/dumb brand of slob comedy that made Sandler a superstar in the ’90s. It’s the genuine article, a true revival of Sandler’s Jerry Lewis-meets-rock ‘n’ roll rage.”

Happy Gilmore 2 is new on Netflix.

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