A few nights ago, I watched Plus One at an Amish Wedding (2022).  I found it scrolling through the titles on Amazon Prime.  In doing so, I passed up a couple well-known Adam Sandler films.  One is Billy Madison (1995), which I may do some day.  The other is today’s movie, Happy Gilmore (1996).  Like Will Ferrell, I find that pretty much all of Sandler’s offerings are basically the same.  I have also never been a fan.  Similar to his Saturday Night Live alumni, there are a couple examples of his works I mind less, like 50 First Dates (2004).  Otherwise, I do not laugh much while watching his antics.  Having said all this, I think Happy Gilmore is okay.  If nothing else, I did not hate the experience of sitting through it.

I can relate to Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler).  I grew up with a singular goal: of becoming a professional baseball player.  For Happy (and yes, that is his actual name), it is hockey.  It is part of a love for the sport instilled by his beloved father, who died at a young age for Happy, who is then sent to live with his grandmother (Frances Bay).  The problem for Happy that keeps him from attaining his goal of being a professional is that he is a terrible skater.  The one skill that keeps him going is his powerful slapshot.  It impresses observers at the hockey tryouts that he keeps going to, but once more he is denied.  Upon returning to his apartment, his girlfriend leaves him, citing her belief that he is going nowhere.  Matters get worse the following day when he visits his grandma and finds the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) present, collecting her things and repossessing her house due to her owing several years of unpaid taxes.  Happy is forced to put grandma in a nursing home for the time being.  It seems nice to him, but the person in charge, Hal L. (Ben Stiller), terrorizes the residents, forcing them to labor for him and hushing them up with threats.  Either way, Happy wants to get her out of there, and has ninety days to come up with nearly $300,000.  Upon looking in on grandma’s house, a chance bet with the movers reveals that his hockey shot is translatable to the game of golf.  Not only that, but the bets that he made with the workers that he could not repeatedly drive a golf ball as far as he can gives him an idea.  His next stop is to the local driving range.  The spectacular distance of his shots attracts a crowd, and the attention of the local professional coach, Derick “Chubbs” Peterson (Carl Weathers).  He would be an even bigger celebrity had an alligator not bit off one of his hands.  His eyes are good enough still to see the potential in Happy.  Chubbs encourages Happy to enter into a local tournament, though the young man is reluctant because he sees golf as beneath a hockey player.  Chubbs convinces Happy by talking about the large sums of money that could be made by playing golf.  Thus, Happy goes to the event, bringing his hockey approach to the more staid sport.  It is not just his crazy swing, but his fiery attitude that raises eyebrows.  On hand are representatives of professional golf, namely top golfer Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) and public relations director Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen).  The former is disgusted when Happy wins, thus earning the amateur a spot on the professional tour.  The latter notices the publicity Happy is getting, and believes he can be an asset to the sport.  All Happy cares about is raising the necessary funds to save his grandmother’s house.  He also develops a crush on Virginia, though that should come as no surprise given how these stories typically go.  At any rate, Happy begins playing regularly.  He is not winning tournaments because while he can make it close to the hole in far fewer shots than anyone else, he cannot putt well, to say the least.  In the process, he has a temper-tantrum whenever things do not go his way, swearing and throwing his clubs around.  This behavior is not in keeping with golf’s standards.  The commissioner, Doug Thompson (Dennis Dugan), wants to kick Happy out of the sport, much to Shooter’s delight.  It is Virginia that convinces Doug to have a change of heart, but promises to help Happy clean up his act.  This seems to work, prompting Shooter to hire a heckler (Joe Flaherty) to harass Happy at every turn.  Between the shouts of “jack ass” and Bob Barker (as himself) voicing his annoyance with Happy’s poor play, Happy finally snaps.  This leads to a fist fight with Barker, and later being suspended from the tour.  Still, he has the requisite amount of money to buy grandma’s house back, which would have happened had Shooter not outbid everyone for the property.  Shooter’s initial proposal is to give the house to Happy in exchange for the upstart never again playing professional golf.  Happy is about to accept, but Virginia will not let him.  Instead, with grandma’s blessing, they make a bet that if Happy beats him in the championship tournament, Shooter must give up the deed to grandma’s home.  Shooter laughingly accepts.  Meanwhile, Happy turns to Chubbs for help with putting.  They go to a miniature golf course because this is a comedy.  It seems to work, but, unfortunately, Chubbs dies afterwards when Happy presents his mentor with the head of the alligator that bit off his hand.  Chubbs falls out of Happy’s apartment window upon seeing the creature’s severed skull.  This is funnier than it sounds.  Anyway, surprise, surprise, Happy goes on to win the tournament.

There are a couple of directions to go with Happy Gilmore.  The more obvious one is something that Chubbs teaches Happy.  It is evident that Happy is overthinking his putting stroke, so Chubbs encourages his pupil to find his “happy place.”  I do not think there is a pun intended there, but I could be wrong.  At any rate, this reminds me of calling upon the Holy Spirit in prayer.  Our communication with God should be personal, having a meaning relevant only between you and God.  The things we see in Happy’s, er, happy place are best left unsaid, but seem to speak to his heart.  That is all well and good, but I appreciate more what Happy does to find a caddy.  He encounters the need for somebody to carry his golf bag when he goes to his first tournament.  To remedy this, he turns to the homeless man, Otto (Allen Covert), who is carried out by security for trying to clean Happy’s car windshield.  I am sure Otto was hoping for some money for this service, but this is not said.  Either way, he is the kind of person Christians are called to treat with dignity.  The film is not meant to be taken seriously, but Happy giving Otto this job spoke to my heart.  There are a few jokes made about homelessness, but it is never too over-the-top.  Instead, it stands as a good, Christian act.

Perhaps I will have a different reaction to Billy Madison?  In the meantime, Happy Gilmore was not as bad as I expected it to be.  I even chuckled lightly when, at the end, Happy is waving to an image of Chubbs in the sky, flanked by Abraham Lincoln, for some reason.  Watching Happy fight Bob Barker is kind of funny, too.  I do not know if I will be rewatching it any time soon, but at least I did not hate the experience.