The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 241 Days to go: 245
Movie #136: Happy Gilmore
If you’ve ever tried to think back, wondering when it was that Adam Sandler was really, truly funny, I can tell you right now that time was 1996.
“But, wait,” you say. “That was all the way back at the very beginning of his film career, right after he left SNL. He did so many movies after that.”
“Yes,” I agree, “but were any of them as funny as Happy Gilmore? No.”
Adam Sandler has never lived up to the potential he showed in Happy Gilmore, and I say that as someone who used to adore him on SNL and who owns several of his movies. Either one of the two I own in which he pairs with Drew Barrymore (50 First Dates and The Wedding Singer) would be my favorite over Happy Gilmore, but those are sweet and romantic in their way. Happy Gilmore isn’t sweet or romantic, really, despite an easy subplot about hooking up with PGA Tour PR person Virginia (Julie Bowen, looking like she just stepped off a bus from Indiana or somewhere similar and got a job in a movie. She’s soooo innocent and young here.); it doesn’t have to be sweet or romantic. It’s just funny.
I have a theory on how that happens. I mean, you take a funny/weird guy like Sandler and put him in a movie that he wrote because he’s the one you’re banking on. It has some acting out and some childish humor and some real iconic moments (“The price is wrong, Bob.”), and it makes millions of dollars, so you let him write another movie with weird acting out and/or childish behavior and a few weird catchphrases because that’s all people want or remember, right? Then you put him in another, and he’s making serious bank at this point so he thinks he’s a big deal and a smart guy. He starts leveraging his power to make sure all his friends are in his movies and he gets to ad lib a bunch of stuff and put his production company in charge of the whole thing and before you know it he’s doing shit like Jack and Jill or whatever, but not before completely burning out on his “serious” work, AKA Funny People, which, as far as titles go, got the second half right, at least: there were people in the film.
But Happy Gilmore was the spark that caught fire. Billy Madison was seen, a little bit, and certain types of people surely seem to like it, but Happy Gilmore was the one that really made Sandler a name for himself. And aside from it being one of the first in a long line of films whose schtick stopped being funny a while ago, the reason I really think it succeeds here is it had a simple, meaningful plot. It had definite stakes. It had a lead character with a horrible temper and no class, but he was always dedicated and caring with those who meant something to him. It made him more human, more relatable. And it had the really funny, silly premise of “What if golf were played by foul-mouthed hooligans with keg-standing, loud-mouthed fans?” It’s kind of brilliant in its simplicity, actually.
Bob Barker obviously has the most popular cameo in the film, but don’t underestimate the surreal hilarity of Carl Weathers as Chubbs — crumbling prosthetic hand very much included. And Christopher McDonald’s Shooter McGavin, complete with obnoxious finger guns, is every bit the smarmy asshole he needs to be. The film is just all-around funny (I still let slip a huge guffaw the first time Gilmore goes up to a criticizing spectator, pulls his shirt over his head and punches him in the fact) built on a very basic, yet sturdy and functional foundation. It’s like the comedy movie equivalent of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” Frankly, I wish Sandler would find his way back to it.
Viable Option 