Happy Gilmore 2 (2025) review

Failed hockey player turned golf pro Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) accidentally kills his wife Virginia (Julie Bowen) with one of his powerhouse shots, he turns to the bottle, goes bankrupt and then has to figure out a way to pay for his only daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) to go to ballet school in Paris, so he brushes up on his "skills" and tries to invigorate his career, but CEO Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie) has started his own "extreme" variation of the sport that moves faster and hopes to attract a younger audience.  The 1996 movie showcased a then thirty-year-old Sandler losing his cool every couple of minutes which made good use of his man-child persona, except things are different now that he's in his late fifties and has mellowed out considerably, so this sequel is merely a rehash of gags from the original (with an absence of fresh ideas) and endless cameo appearances from actual athletes, comedians, rappers, podcasters, broadcasters and so on (although John Daly shines playing a slightly fictitious version of himself).  While I personally could care less about the game - in large part because I'm terrible at it - the argument that it doesn't require "updating" is nice ... it just didn't need two hours to make that point.