Kyle Newacheck’s legacy sequel Happy Gilmore 2 (D-) has such a “grip it and rip it” feel, it almost doesn’t even qualify as a movie at all. Undoubtedly a documentary about making this film would have yielded more laughs than those captured and presented on the streaming screen. Slapshot direction meets a scattershot script as the title character played by Adam Sandler returns nearly three decades later to battle alcoholism, incidental deaths on and off screen and a new extreme league of his adopted sport of golf. There’s nary a real threat, a funny gag or a compelling subplot to add to the first film in any substantive way. It just feels like the makers are casually marking time because they know there’s an appetite for more fun on the fairways with a character they’ve grown to love. Fan service flashbacks and throwbacks fill much of the bloated run time, with strained sequences on parade so Netflix can clock viewer eyeballs for a smidge longer. Adam Sandler exudes little of the rowdiness or rage present in the title character before, and his story arch about getting his life turned around and funding his daughter’s dance dreams prove quite incidental. A flurry of real golf stars largely ill-equipped to add to the comic or dramatic timing round out a cast of many actors from the original. It’s an indictment when Bad Bunny appears to be acting the hardest as Gilmore’s new caddy. This outing is a mulligan from nearly any perspective.
