SYNOPSIS: “Happy Gilmore 2,” the Netflix sequel to Adam Sandler’s much loved 1996 golf comedy, begins with the sports legend in a bad way. “Remember Happy Gilmore?” asks newscaster Pat Daniels. “He’s making news on the golf course again, but not the good kind.”
Broke and unwilling to play golf after a tragedy during a tournament that plunged him into alcoholism, he’s a t rock bottom. When his daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) needs tuition for a prestigious dance school in Paris, he must pull his life together and pick up his old golf clubs. “There’s only one way to make that money fast,” says Happy’s brother Johnny (real life golfer John Daly). “Grip it and rip it.”
CAST: Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, Ben Stiller, Dennis Dugan, Kevin Nealon, Sunny Sandler, Eric André, Jim Downey, John Farley, Marcello Hernandez, Oliver Hudson, Scott Mescudi, Haley Joel Osment, Kelsey Plum, Margaret Qualley, and Nick Swardson. Directed by Kyle Newacheck.
REVIEW: There are probably more celebrity cameos in “Happy Gilmore 2” than actual belly laughs, but I doubt Sandler’s fans will care. A mix of heart, rage and silliness, it’s a familiar underdog story that captures the spirit but not the magic of the original.
Fan service is the name of the game.
A tsunami of flashbacks, callbacks and refurbished jokes from the original, it’s like a cover version of “Happy Gilmore” or an echo from 1996 emanating from the screen. The more familiar you are with the original, the more enjoyment you’ll wring out of the sequel. Casual viewers may be left in the dark, even though director (and professional pickleball player) Kyle Newacheck does everything possible to remind you of Happy’s former glories.
Still, at the heart of it all is Sandler. Almost thirty years later he’s still able to play the rageaholic Gilmore as a tightly wound col ready to spring at any time. “I always power my drives the old-fashioned way,” he says of his unique golf swing, “with rage.”
The intensity is good for a laugh, and he still has a way of stringing words together in the most insulting way ever, but there’s more to Happy than the temper that so often gets him in trouble. Sandler’s natural likability doesn’t actually smooth down any of the ironically named Happy’s rough edges, they are still there, but because of his sincerity he’s an easy underdog to root for. It doesn’t feel new, but it does have a certain amount of charm.
With its surfeit of cameos, returning characters and Sandler movie regulars, “Happy Gilmore 2” seems like the kind of movie that was more fun to make than it is to watch. Some will find it lazy, pandering to Sandler’s fans without offering anything new, but for hard core aficionados of Sandler’s 90s comedies, it’s a blast from the past.
An aggressive but damaged comedic persona goes back to school. It worked well when Rodney Dangerfield did it in 1986 but will it work as well a second time? Melissa McCarthy hopes to find out with this week’s release of “Life of the Party.”
The “Bridesmaid” star plays enthusiastic domestic engineer Deanna, devoted wife of Dan (Matt Walsh), mother of senior year university student Maddie (Molly Gordon). When Dan unexpectedly dumps her, abruptly ending their twenty-three year marriage, she takes control of her destiny. “What am I going to do?” she asks. “Take spin classes? Oh no. I don’t want to start a blog.” Instead of any of that it’s back to school for Deanna for the first time since Counting Crows topped the charts.
Enrolled at the same university as her daughter, Deanna blossoms. Embracing life around the quad she discovers everything she missed during her marriage. Her journey of self-discovery includes hanging out with Maddie’s friends and getting friendly with the campus frat boys.
Like “Back to School,” “Life of the Party” isn’t a particularly good movie. The first half is brutal, with so few laughs its hardtop even label it a comedy. The second half is much better but still, scenes end when it feels like they are just getting started or at least like there is one better joke to come. When it really goes for laughs between beyond Seanna’s sentimentality, self-help platitudes and momisms, however, it earns them. A mediation scene is laugh-out-loud, the relationships gel and Maya Rudolph needs to make the jump from supporting roles to the above the title star.
Mostly though, the film features the relentless likability of Melissa McCarthy. I’m not sure she elevates the material (which she co-wrote with her director husband Ben Falcone) but she brings some heart to it and in this story of a mother and daughter, that’s enough.
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, its Dane Cook in “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” an animated aerial adventure that aims to fly high, but instead crashes and burns.
This sequel to 2013’s “Planes” begins where the last one left off, with Dusty Crophopper (Cook) flush with success from his round the world race. He’s a champion but a mechanical malfunction is about to put an end to his racing career. His gearbox is shot and no replacement can be found. Looking to change careers, (and help save his local firehouse from being shut down), Dusty takes a crash course in wildfire air attack. “They fly in when other fly out.” Training under rugged fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) Dusty’s new skills are tested when a wildfire burns out of control.
It’s easy to see why kids love the “Planes” movies. They’re fast paced, the characters are cute-and-cuddly bigger-than-life talking machines, like Transformers for the preteen set and there are a surprising number of flatulence jokes. What’s harder to understand is what anyone over the age of 5 sees in them.
For every thing that works, like Julie Bowen’s sassy voice work as the flirty Lil’ Dipper, or bad puns that raise a smile (“Did you just fall out of a B-17? Cuz you’re the bomb…” “Oh, those pick-up trucks.”) there are many things that irk. Take for instance the monotone vocalizations of star Dane Cook who sounds even more bored by the story than I was or the musical montages that pad out the scant 75 minute running time.
Despite the action scenes, “Planes: Fire & Rescue” doesn’t feel like a big screen must see. The conquering adversity messaging is worthy enough, but the direct-to-DVD story never takes flight.
