- Introduction -

Happy Gilmore was shown on Channel 4 a week or so ago and given the fact that I've seen a few Adam Sandler movies that I quite enjoyed earlier this year and I hadn't seen this movie before, I decided to record it and watch it later. I got around to watching it on Sunday evening and was relieved to find that this film is just as entertaining as his other movies.

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116483/fullcredits)

Director - Dennis Dugan
Written by - Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler
Producer - Robert Simonds
Executive Producers - Bernie Brillstein, Brad Grey, Sandy Wernick
Co-producers - Warren Carr & Jack Giarraputo
Cinematography - Arthur Albert

- Story (incl. main acting cast) -

Happy Gilmore is the story of a failed ice hockey player with the same name as the movie ie Happy (played by Adam Sandler), who is sad when he splits from his girlfriend who got fed up of him not giving up on hockey playing when its clear he wasn't a successful player and then he finds out that his grandmother (played by Frances Bay) risks losing her house when the IRS (US version of Inland Revenue, for anyone who doesn't know) discover that she hasn't paid her taxes in the last decade. He decides he has to help out and in order to get her house back, he has to get over $200,000 and pretty quickly too. Happy is clearly not the kind of guy who would have so much money, being basically a failed hockey player (though don't tell him that as he still thinks of himself as being a good hockey player), so when he discovers by chance through a bet with one of the IRS men, that he's not a bad golf player, he decides what the heck? he might as well go with it.

One day when he's playing about at a golf course, he gets the attention of a mentor, Chubbs Peterson (played by Carl Weathers), who sees the potential in Happy to compete at professional level when Happy plays a particularly good shot, where the golf ball absolutely flies off into the distance, tries to convince him to take part in the upcoming championships.

He takes part in the first tournament and manages to win, giving him a place in the main PGA championships, where, if he wins, he'll win enough money to be able to afford to buy his grandmothers house back. However, being in the championships means he's up against Shooter McGavin (played by Christopher McDonald), who has won the championships multiple times before. Shooter isn't impressed with Happy at all and tries to sabotage his chances of winning.

Will be beat McGavin and will his grandmothers house be saved? Also, it becomes clear that while Happy is very good at shooting long shots, his skill at putting when the ball is close to the hole, is less than good and when he misses, his anger and frustration is clear as he controversially swears and throws tantrums, angry that he isn't able to putt the shot well. Of course, some people in the PGA aren't very impressed with this behaviour and so want shot of him but others are pleasantly surprised to discover that Happy has built up a new fanbase made of those who are keen on seeing his behaviour (not only does he have big tantrums but he also celebrates with some rather amusing and silly behaviour when he manages to pull off good shots, getting a hole in one etc.), with more and more people surrounding nearby him and the ratings of the competition gradually increasing.Will he be made to change his behaviour, after all this could be the start of a less than professional side to such a sport, or will he be allowed to continue and can he control himself well enough to get right through the championships?

- Genre/Themes etc. -

This is definately a comedy, its not really a sports movie as such. In a way its your average Sandler movie, with the wacky behaviour he usually sports being present here.

There is the theme of being the underdog and hoping to come out on top, Happy being the newcomer to the sport of golf and competing against the professional Shooter McGavin. There's also the theme of abuse in care homes slightly touched upon, though in a comedic way (I guess you'd have to see it to see what I mean), where Ben Stiller has a small part as an orderly/employee in the care home where Happy's grandmother is temporarily placed while the IRS wait to see if they'll be back paid the taxes and can give back her house. Bens character (un-named) is someone who appears to be a very caring person whenever Happy is around but when he turns his back, he threatens Happy's grandmother not to say a word to him about the conditions she's living in and in one scene is shown to be forcing the grandmothers to do alot of knitting and craftwork (when one of the other residents complains that her fingers are sore, he tells her she's been put on landscaping duty instead! or something similar). This is somewhat funny in a way with his character with this large moustache and silly accent but the message behind it is quite serious. It certainly makes you want Happy to succeed and get the money from winning the championships, so that he can get his grandmother out of there.

I guess there is also a smaller theme of handling disappointment, with the obvious angry outbursts that Happy shows when he doesn't do as well as he hopes and how you deal when you don't do as well as you maybe hope you will... especially when its being shown on TV!

- My Thoughts/Opinions -

This is one of Adam Sandlers earliest popular movies, I didn't realise at the time it was so old, I thought it was from 1999 or 2000 but it actually dates from 1996, for reference.

Its quite a good comedy I thought, I was a little worried it might be a bit bland and even somewhat boring, I mean come on, golf? that can hardly be too exciting, even with him in it, I wasn't sure, so I didn't bother to buy this on DVD and instead waited until the movie came on TV. It was worth watching I felt as I thought it was quite entertaining. I can't say that its a perfect movie, as I did feel that it had downsides. If you think about it, it is fairly easy to guess to outcome of the movie, for one. Its pretty predictable and it has the usual elements present in most Adam Sandler movies, the wackiness and the daftness.

The format of the movie, storywise, isn't altogether new, though I thought that it was a pretty good movie, entertainment wise, if you go along for the ride and don't analyse it too much.

One thing I noticed that was a bit annoying in a way was a clear case of product placement for a certain US sandwich/baguette based fast food chain store, which could be seen on Happy's t-shirt and in other places. I guess back then, they needed a bit of that to help pay for these films, though with some of the people appearing in it, you'd have thought they must have a fairly good budget to pay for them all.

- Certificate -

Happy Gilmore is rated 12, due to some bad language and some scenes of comic sexuality. I didn't spot anything too offensive, it is all rather comic and not to be taken too seriously, there's no real violence or nudity or anything like that and so I wouldn't be worried if any young teen wanted to watch this.

- Official Website -

There doesn't appear to be an official website for this movie, probably because it dates back so far (as I say it was from 1996, so probably before all new movies had their own websites I guess). If your interested in this film, though, check out the IMDB entry for it here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116483/
there's plenty of information there including other reviews, a photo gallery, plot outline, trailers and videos, trivia and memorable quotes (some quite amusing!). See the links on the left hand side column for all those pages and more. IMDB is definately a useful site...

- Conclusions -

I quite enjoyed this movie. I wouldn't say that its really anything new as far as sports based comedies are concerned, or as far as Adam Sandler movies are concerned but there again, it was one of his first hit movies (as far as im aware anyway), so what do you expect? it was still pretty entertaining. Some of the dialogue was hilarious and while the end was a bit cheesy, I did walk away feeling that I was glad I had seen it. You do feel sorry for Happy, when he gets dumped by his girlfriend and knowing the reasons why he wants to win the championship (for the prize money, to give his grandmother her house back) and so you do hope only the best for him (or I did anyway), which is why its not so bad that it is a bit predictable and in a way, it almost isn't when a twist is present towards the end...

It is something that I might well watch again, even if just to fast forward to the funnier parts and so, as its an old-ish movie and can be found on DVD cheap, I would recommend it. It doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you. There's certainly plenty of madcap characters including Happy, Mr Chubbs (with his wooden hand) and the orderly at the care home. If you can't stand what some may think of as Sandlers' over acting then this isn't for you but if, however, you quite like his humour and enjoy such movies, then you should definately get a good few laughs from this, so I would recommend it.

I hope you found my review useful in deciding whether to watch this movie, thanks for reading!

(btw this is a film only review as I just watched the movie taped from TV and I don't have the DVD so I can't comment on any special features on the DVD).