Just when you think Adam Sandler has fully redeemed his reputation as an actor, he signs on for another Netflix film. Worse than that, a Netflix film that’s the sequel to a beloved classic comedy. Both are extremely troubling signs. But much like our feelings about the titular character, we can’t help but root for the Happy Gilmore sequel to be good.
There aren’t any details about Happy Gilmore 2 yet, besides that Netflix has given it a greenlight and Sandler has signed on. Presumably, it’ll be penned by Tim Herlihy, who co-wrote the original film and most of Sandler’s movies under his Happy Madison Productions banner. (Herlihy is a former Saturday Night Live writer and the father of current SNL writer and performer Martin Herlihy, of Please Don’t Destroy.) Per The Hollywood Reporter, Sandler previously teased that the script was in the works, and Christopher McDonald (who played Happy’s rival Shooter McGavin) also hinted he’d return for the sequel.
The problem is, comedy sequels are invariably bad, as we discussed when Dodgeball 2 recently got a green light. Zoolander 2, Caddyshack 2, Blues Brothers 2000… all major disappointments to follow up cult classics. (Anchorman 2 was slightly better received, but it didn’t do much to justify its own existence.) The problem is, especially when the humor that made the first film a beloved classic is silly or random or juvenile, it’s hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice. And Sandler has had a lot of trouble capturing that lightning for his original Netflix movies. (He infamously promised to make the worst movie ever if he got snubbed by the Oscars for Uncut Gems, and followed up on the threat with Hubie Halloween.) Add on the pressure of making an actually good sequel, and the odds just seem stacked against Happy Gilmore 2.
Of course, the film was always going to continue without one of its most iconic characters, Chubbs Peterson, who died in the original movie. But it’s all the more bittersweet after the real-life death of the legendary Carl Weathers. Weathers was a huge fan of Sandler and the film: “Bless Adam Sandler for creating such craziness. Of all the great stuff he’s done for me, Happy Gilmore is the greatest. It’s such an entertaining movie, and it’s so rooted in the kind of charm that Adam has and the kind of stuff that he can deliver. For me, it was just a joy to be a part of it,” he told The A.V. Club in 2014. One of the film’s enduring legacies was giving Weathers a shot at comedy, because, as he put it, “nobody else thought I was funny.” He shared that “to get a chance to do that was just wonderful. It was right in my wheelhouse of doing crazy characters, and Chubbs was as crazy as I’ve ever done, so—it was just perfect. But it was a joy because I was just getting the chance to do something different. I had a lot of fun on that movie. I laughed a lot. Working with Adam is about laughter. So it made it kind of an easy, enjoyable gig.”
Long story short, Happy Gilmore 2 has a lot to live up to. Hopefully, Sandler will be able to pull it off. And if not, hopefully his next Safdie collaboration will be able to redeem his reputation once again!