Failed hockey player-turned-golf whiz Happy Gilmore -- whose unconventional approach and antics on the grass courts the ire of rival Shooter McGavin -- is determined to win a PGA tournament so he can save his granny's house with the prize money. Meanwhile, an attractive tour publicist tries to soften Happy's image.
Happy's tantrums, which the movie pretends are liberating explosions of self-expression, aren't nearly maniacal enough to reach comic delirium.
– Stephen Holden,
New York Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
You don't feel that Sandler and director Dennis Dugan are trying for the kind of subversiveness that might just make Happy's brutal anarchy more effective.
– Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Feb 2001
fresh:
It may smell awful from a distance, especially if you have low tolerance for lowbrow humor, but up close this yarn about an unlikely golf star is fairly painless.
– Edward Guthmann,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Jun 2002
rotten:
There are about three minutes of funny material in Happy Gilmore, and pretty much all of them are in the trailer.
– Brian Lowry,
Variety,
15 Apr 2008
rotten:
[A] one-joke Caddyshack for the blitzed and jaded.