HAPPY GILMORE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1996 Ben Hoffman
It is quite possible I suppose that a golf enthusiast might find Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) funny. Not being a golfer, it seemed like pure slapstick. The big joke being that Happy is a hockey player of sorts who discovers that with his hockey stick he can slam a golf ball over 400 yards. Golf is where the money is so Happy switches to golf much to the horror of the sedate golfers he meets on the various courses.
Happy does a weird kind of approach from about 5 feet away from the golf ball before he wiggles and takes a swipe at the ball. The camera immediately pans up into the sky as the ball disappears into the wild blue yonder only to land a few feet from the cup. Once in a while he gets lucky and his 400+-footer gains him a hole in one. On the occasions when he gets only close to the cup, he can take 5 small puts before he finally sinks the ball.
Happy would have liked to be a pro-hockey player but he lacked one essential: he could not ice skate. Fortunately, skating is not a requirement for golf. Unfortunately, it takes more than the film's story to make a good comedy.
Others in the cast include Virgina Venit (Julie Bowen), the golf tournament's PR person who is assigned to handle him. Happy has a one-handed coach (Carl Weathers) and a homeless man he engages as his caddie. And so on.
Directed by Dennis Dugan
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Ben Hoffman
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