Happy Gilmore

Happy Gilmore
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dennis Dugan
Written by	Tim Herlihy Adam Sandler
Produced by	Robert Simonds
Starring	Adam Sandler Julie Bowen Christopher McDonald Carl Weathers
Cinematography	Arthur Albert
Edited by	Jeff Gourson Steve R. Moore
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Production companies	Brillstein-Grey Productions Robert Simonds Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	February 16, 1994 (1994-02-16)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Box office	$41,205,099

Happy Gilmore is a 1994 sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Robert Simonds. It stars Adam Sandler as the title character, an unsuccessful ice hockey player who discovers a talent for golf. The screenplay was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy. This film was the first of multiple collaborations between Sandler and Dugan.

Plot

Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) is an aspiring ice hockey player who possesses a powerful and dangerous slapshot that his late father taught him as a child. However, Happy also possesses an overaggressive streak and lack of skating talent that consistently preclude him from joining a hockey team. His grandmother (Frances Bay), who raised him after his father died, has not paid her taxes for many years. As such, she owes $270,000 to the IRS, and the house that Happy's grandfather "built with his bare hands" is about to be seized. Gilmore has only three months to come up with the money or else the house will be sold. Grandma Gilmore is forced to temporarily move into a retirement home, run by a sadistic manager named Hal (Ben Stiller in an uncredited role).

While repossessing Grandma's furniture, a pair of movers challenge Happy to hit golf balls. With his unorthodox, hockey slapshot-style swing, he hits the ball 400 yards three times, winning $40 as a result. This gives Happy the idea to go to the driving range to hustle golfers with his swing. When his progress is noticed by former golf star and current club pro Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers), whose pro golf career ended when his right hand was bitten off by an alligator, he convinces Happy to enter a local tournament by telling him he can make the money to buy back his grandmother's house. Happy wins the tournament and earns a spot on the Pro Golf Tour (fictionalized golf tour based on the PGA Tour). Chubbs advises Happy to hold off on joining the tour for six months, so that Chubbs can make him a better all-around golfer. Against Chubbs' advice, Happy joins the tour immediately.

On the tour, Happy makes an instant enemy of pretentious and arrogant star Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), who sees Happy as both a detriment to golf and a threat to his career. In addition, Happy discovers that although he has a powerful drive, his putting is terrible, and his violent outbursts and lack of golf etiquette eventually prompt Shooter to ask Doug Thompson (Dugan), the commissioner of the tour, to expel Happy. But Happy's antics are garnering the tour's highest television ratings, increasing attendance, drawing more youthful sponsors, and Happy isn't breaking any rules, and Shooter's request is denied. To help Happy cool down and start acting more professionally, tour PR head Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen) is assigned to him by the tour. In addition to a romance forming between the two, Happy tells Virginia the truth of why he entered the tour and she agrees to keep it between them. Happy begins to develop a cooler head while continuing to improve in tournaments much to the chagrin of Shooter, who decides to take matters into his own hands and hire Donald (Joe Flaherty), a mentally unbalanced fan, to heckle Happy at the next tournament, the Pepsi Pro-Am, a tournament where tour pros team up with celebrities.

At the tournament, Happy is paired with Bob Barker, then host/executive producer of the long-running CBS Daytime game show, The Price Is Right. Donald immediately starts taunting and distracting him by calling Happy a jackass, taking Happy's focus off his game so much that he plays terribly. Exasperated at Happy's poor performance, Barker even begins heckling him before they break into a full-scale brawl (which Barker wins). As a result, Happy is suspended from the tour and fined $25,000. All is not lost as Happy secures an endorsement deal with Subway, which gives him enough money to buy back Grandma's house and pay the fine.

However, Happy discovers that the house is to be sold at an auction – something he did not know before. Despite bidding the entire sum of his endorsement deal, Happy is summarily outbid by Shooter, who has purchased the house to leverage a deal with Happy – he will let him have the house back in return for quitting the tour. As the house was his sole reason for entering, Happy immediately agrees, but is dissuaded by Virginia, who tells him that his Grandma would rather see him succeed at life than have the house, and that his true talent lies in golfing, not hockey. Happy then decides to make a bet with his rival based on the upcoming Tour Championship – if Happy places higher than Shooter, he gets the house back, but if Happy finishes behind Shooter he will leave the tour; Shooter agrees. Although Virginia is confident Happy will win, Happy is not as sure and seeks the help of Chubbs. Happy finally admits his own mistakes and agrees to work with Chubbs. Together they head to a miniature golf course so Happy can improve his putting, which he does. Pleased with Happy's progress, Chubbs gives his protege a modified putter, fashioned in the shape of a hockey stick, as a present to use for the tournament. In return, Happy presents Chubbs with the head of the alligator that took his hand (which Happy had killed in a previous tournament). Horrified by the sight, Chubbs reels backward and falls out an open window to his death.

Determined to win the tournament for Chubbs, Happy is evenly matched with Shooter after the first two rounds. Shooter is stunned that Happy has been keeping up with him, and by the end of the third day of the tournament, Happy is leading Shooter. In desperation, Shooter once again calls on Donald. The next day Shooter's plan comes into action, as Donald hits Happy with a Volkswagen Beetle, which he proceeds to ram into a television tower at the 18th hole. An injured Happy refuses to forfeit the tournament, but quickly discovers that he is too hurt to hit the long drive and drops from the lead by several shots heading into the final holes. However, after applying a lesson from Chubbs, and receiving an important morale boost from Grandma, he is able to refocus and ties Shooter going to the 18th hole. After Shooter makes his shot for par, the TV tower collapses and blocks Happy's putt for birdie. Happy is forced to take his shot with the tower in the way, and uses what Chubbs taught him on the miniature golf course to make a trick shot to win the Tour Championship and the house.

Afterwards, a hysterical Shooter attempts to steal Happy's gold jacket, but is quickly beaten up by Happy's old boss, Mr. Larson (Richard Kiel), and an angry mob of spectators. The film closes with Happy being congratulated by the two-handed ghost of Chubbs, Abraham Lincoln, and the alligator.

Cast

• Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore, a young man who wants to be a professional ice hockey player.
• Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin, an arrogant golfer who is the top player on the "Pro-Golf Tour" (fictionalized golf tour based on the PGA Tour).
• Julie Bowen as Virginia Venit, a Public Relations Director for the Pro-Golf Tour.
• Frances Bay as Grandma Gilmore.
• Carl Weathers as Chubbs Peterson, a pro golfer who was forced to retire early when his hand was bitten off by an alligator.
• Allen Covert as Otto, a homeless man who becomes Happy's caddy. The character is unnamed in the film but is listed in the end credits. Covert reprises the role in Adam Sandler's 2011 film Jack and Jill.
• Kevin Nealon as Gary Potter, the eccentric PGT pro Happy plays with in his first tournament.
• Richard Kiel as Mr. Larson, Happy's towering former boss.
• Dennis Dugan as Doug Thompson, the commissioner of the Pro Golf Tour.
• Joe Flaherty as Unruly Fan, Donald
• Lee Trevino as Himself
• Bob Barker as Himself
• Verne Lundquist as Himself
• Mark Lye as Himself
• Ben Stiller (uncredited) as Hal L.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On the film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, it received a critics rating of 59% and an audience rating of 83%, with a consensus review of "Those who enjoy Adam Sandler's schtick will find plenty to love in this gleefully juvenile take on professional golf; those who don't, however, will find it unfunny and forgettable." Brian Lowry of Variety stated that "The general tone nevertheless makes it difficult to elevate the gags beyond an occasional chuckle". Lowry only noted a few scenes he found inspired, including the fight scene with Bob Barker and when Happy attempts to find his "Happy Place" which was described as "Felliniesque". Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars out of four, stating that Adam Sandler's character "doesn't have a pleasing personality: He seems angry even when he's not supposed to be, and his habit of pounding everyone he dislikes is tiring in a PG-13 movie". Ebert also noted the film's product placement stating that he "probably missed a few, but I counted Diet Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Subway, Budweiser (in bottles, cans, and Bud-dispensing helmets), Michelob, Visa cards, Bell Atlantic, AT&T, Sizzler, Wilson, Golf Digest, the ESPN sports network, and Top-Flite golf balls".

Box office

The film was a commercial success, ranking #2 at the US box office on its debut weekend with $8.5 million in revenue. The film was made for $12 million and grossed a total of $41.2 million worldwide, with $38.8 million of that at the North American domestic box office.

Inspiration

According to Adam Sandler, Happy Gilmore is based on Sandler's childhood friend, Kyle, who lived near Sandler in Manchester, New Hampshire. Kyle was a wanna-be hockey player who could "hit a golf ball longer than anyone in the neighborhood". Kyle joined a local golf league, and won the championship the year he joined with help from Sandler's father.

Awards

Won MTV Movie Awards: Best Fight Adam Sandler vs. Bob Barker

External links

• Happy Gilmore at IMDb
• Happy Gilmore at AllMovie
• Happy Gilmore at Box Office Mojo
• Happy Gilmore at Rotten Tomatoes
• Happy Gilmore at Metacritic