The Worst ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Reviews That Won’t Stop Anyone From Watching
Adam Sandler, like Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey before him, is a master of dopey comedies that fans adore and critics despise. Even though Sandler has recently delivered impressive dramatic performances in films like Uncut Gems, prompting some reviewers to reconsider their Sandler bias, the sharp knives still come out when he releases Netflix nonsense like Happy Gilmore 2. Count in Cracked when it comes to hating on Happy — our own Tara Ariano summed up her opinion succinctly: “I laughed once.”
Let’s pile on with five more of Happy Gilmore 2’s worst reviews in its first few hours of release…
”Worst Sequel of All Time”
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“Happy Gilmore 2 May Be The Worst Sequel of All Time,” screams the Daily Beast’s headline. But critic Nick Schager was just getting started:
- “Arguably the least inspired film in the actor’s canon, if not all of movie history.”
- “A cinematic abomination devoid of imagination, skill, or purpose, floundering about for a criminally long 114 minutes in search of a single laugh.”
- “It’s like eating s--t for breakfast.”
”Completely Whiffs It”
“Happy Gilmore 2 is an absolute slog of a comedy that takes everything that made the original movie great and regurgitates it all into something resembling a Dodgeball sequel crashed into a professional golf outing,” writes critic Ethan Anderton’s pan on SlashFilm.
But it's still a good time? “Happy GIlmore 2 is a poor excuse for nostalgic comedy,” he continues, “and you’d have more fun getting a colonoscopy with a rake.”
”Suffers From A Bad Case of Sequelitis”
“Happy Gilmore 2 suffers as it tries to be bigger and better than the first movie. This allows Happy Gilmore 2 to tread new ground, but it also makes it overly long, more unfocused and more beholden to Happy Gilmore cameos,” gripes ScreenRant’s Lewis Glazebrook.
“The film has some elements that work, but not enough to overcome its gratuitous cameos, its need to be bigger, or its wasted nostalgia and bloated runtime,” he adds. “Our lovable golfer may have been better off staying in retirement.”
”Strictly for the Fans”
The Guardian didn’t exactly hate Happy Gilmore 2, but praise this faint means it’s time to change the printer cartridge. “For those who aren’t into golf or weren’t around for SNL at the turn of the century, Happy Gilmore 2 could well sail overhead like a drive from the man himself,” writes Andrew Lawrence. “Like most sequels, Happy Gilmore 2 doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.”
”Adam Sandler’s Netflix Sequel Is Terrible”
The “terrible” part was only half of Hollywood Reporter’s headline. The rest reads, “And Fans Will Love It.”
Despite the not-so-great reviews, that’s where a lot of professional opinions landed. On Rotten Tomatoes, there are more fresh tomatoes than splats, with many critics acknowledging that while the sequel isn’t Citizen Kane, it will likely please Sandler’s hardcore fans.
But that doesn’t stop Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck from landing brutal body blows, Bob Barker-style. “Nearly every minute of the film (features) a reference to the original in one form or another. It all feels extremely lazy and self-indulgent, especially Sandler’s tendency to cast nearly everyone he’s ever worked with or even met,” he writes.
“The film’s main humor involves people being painfully hit by golf balls. By the time the movie ends, and you’ve been assaulted by one tired gag after another, you’ll know exactly how they feel.”
