Belated sequel to the 1996 comedy is unlikely to convert newcomers but there’s more than enough to entertain its cult fanbase
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appy Gilmore 2, the much-anticipated follow-up to the canonical sports comedy that dominated pop culture at the turn of the century, opens with Adam Sandler’s irascible hero catching viewers up on the past 29 years.
After humiliating tour nemesis Shooter McGavin (an on-form Christopher McDonald) in the big tournament and riding off into the sunset with the girl, they marry and have five children as Happy’s prosperity continues unbidden. He considers stepping back from the game as his years and wealth stack up, but keeps going at the encouragement of his dear Virginia (Julie Bowen). But when Happy accidentally kills her with a shanked tee shot, a shock that comes in the first two minutes, his world is even more upended than it was when we met him as an orphan in 1996.
This time, instead of having to abandon his first love (hockey) to chase down a couple hundred grand in cardboard checks to save grandma’s house, he abruptly retires to be more present for his kids and assumes the bills are covered until the feds circle back to take grandma’s house – and the Ferrari. With his four boys old enough to fend for themselves, sort of, he moves into a ramshackle triplex on the sketchy side of town with his young daughter, Vienna (played by Sunny Sandler, Adam Sandler’s youngest daughter), and falls into alcoholism. It isn’t until Vienna’s ballet instructor (played by Jackie Sandler, Adam Sandler’s wife) tells Happy that Vienna has the talent to study at a prestigious company in Paris that he becomes motivated to pick up his club bag and try to raise the tuition money. But the comeback gets complicated when Happy picks up a DUI in a muni-course karting accident and an energy drink hustle bro offers him pride of place in an upstart golf tour that’s purpose-built to take down the establishment. (Sound familiar?)
