Happy Gilmore 2 Has A Ton Of Great Callbacks, But One Thing About Them Turned Me Off

FORE! Below, there are some pretty hefty spoilers for Happy Gilmore 2, which is now streaming with a Netflix subscription.

I grew up watching Happy Gilmore more than pretty much any movie not called Billy Madison. From the first time I watched a copy on VHS at my friend’s house back in the third grade, I was obsessed with this movie and would constantly reference some of the funniest Adam Sandler quotes ever. With Happy Gilmore 2 now out on the 2025 movie schedule, you would think I would be in hog heaven watching the new Netflix original, but that’s where you’d be wrong.

Though I did enjoy some of the callbacks, jokes, silly references, and the show-stealing performance by a certain bad boy of golf, there was something about these homages that turned me off and took me out of the movie. In fact, I was quite annoyed…

The Constant Barrage Of Old Happy Gilmore Clips Whenever There Was A Reference Got Old

It’s one thing to reference Happy Gilmore, which the movie does pretty much nonstop for its nearly two-hour runtime, but it’s another to show a clip from the first movie whenever there’s a callback, character, or random moment referenced in it. At first, I thought this would be done once or twice, which would have helped the uninitiated, but it just kept going.

What’s the point of including a fun little homage as an Easter egg if you’re going to ram it down our throats? I honestly lost count of the number of times the story would stop so we could go back in time and see Shooter McGavin running with the golden jacket, Happy hit the golf ball for the first time, or other moments that already live rent-free in my head. Sure, those scenes for the actors who died before the sequel were great and appreciated, but the rest could have been toned down drastically.

I Love A Great Callback, But This Made Happy Gilmore 2 Feel Like A Clip Show

As pointed out in CinemaBlend’s Happy Gilmore 2 review, the long-awaited sequel has a whole lot of heart, humor, and references to the first film (and other heavyweights from Adam Sandler’s filmography). However, while I do agree that the movie is a love letter to the original, all those clips from the legendary sports comedy made it feel like a clip show at times.

I haven’t gone back to count, but I would be willing to bet that the Happy Gilmore 2 runtime is lengthened by at least four minutes because of all these clips. I wish the movie had been more subtle with its nostalgia, and let us make the connections on our own instead of treating the movie like a sitcom episode at the end of the season.

I don’t think Happy Gilmore 2 is the worst movie I’ve seen all year, and there are parts that I really enjoyed. It’s just that the constant barrage of clips from the first movies was too much for me.