Happy Gilmore

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Happy Gilmore

PG-13

1996

1h 32m

Comedy

Sports

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

66%

Tomatometer

62 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

All Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) has ever wanted is to be a professional hockey player. But he soon discovers he may actually have a talent for playing an entirely different sport: golf. When his grandmother (Frances Bay) learns she is about to lose her home, Happy joins a golf tournament to try and win enough money to buy it for her. With his powerful driving skills and foulmouthed attitude, Happy becomes an unlikely golf hero -- much to the chagrin of the well-mannered golf professionals.

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Critics Consensus

Those who enjoy Adam Sandler's schtick will find plenty to love in this gleefully juvenile take on professional golf; those who don't, however, will find it unfunny and forgettable.

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Dave Kehr

New York Daily News

02/16/2016

3/4

The comedy is never more than sudden, outsized explosions of violence from the otherwise placid, childlike Happy. But director Dugan maximizes the laughs through careful timing and counterpoint.

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

04/15/2008

D+

[A] one-joke Caddyshack for the blitzed and jaded.

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Brian Lowry

Variety

04/15/2008

There are about three minutes of funny material in Happy Gilmore, and pretty much all of them are in the trailer.

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Catherine Searcey

Loud and Clear Reviews

Mar 3

It’s hard to dislike a film about an underdog in an elitist sport trying to do right by his grandma.

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Jackie Potts

Miami Herald

Feb 12

3/4

It's the funniest golf send-up since Caddyshack. Part of the reason is that writer-actor Sandler has dropped that cloying falsetto and given himself some very funny lines.

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Aug 31

4/5

As the front nine for Adam Sandler's eccentricities about expressing enragement, "Happy Gilmore" & all its punching is an easier sell to audiences than "Billy Madison's" oddities. But even as rougher edges are rounded off, it's still among Sandler's best.

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Ben W

05/14/2025

Very fun movie. Sandler isn’t my favorite by any means. But this had some good jokes and and enjoyable plot.

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Noel C

05/01/2025

Classic movie that just gets better with age!

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Brad

05/01/2025

I'm a golfer & a hockey fan. Win, win! Fun to take my middle school son to see this classic comedy Adam Sandler is always funny.

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Chris S

@Janomi 4d

Happy Gilmore is very entertaining because the angry-golfer concept is such a perfect Adam Sandler comedy setup. A failed hockey player bringing rage, slapshots, trash talk, and fights into golf gives the movie a simple hook that keeps paying off. Sandler makes Happy immature, explosive, and weirdly easy to root for, but Christopher McDonald nearly steals the movie as Shooter McGavin. Shooter is smug, petty, insecure, and endlessly quotable, making him one of the great comedy villains. The golf comedy works because the movie turns a quiet, polite sport into a chaotic arena for heckling, brawls, ridiculous behavior, and underdog nonsense. Carl Weathers adds warmth and old-school mentor energy, while the Bob Barker fight is one of the funniest scenes. The story is thin, but Happy Gilmore is fast, silly, quotable, and still one of Sandler’s most memorable comedies.

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Dennis G

@MunchinBooty 4d

How can you not like this movie? Still an awesome watch 30 years later. The critics that hated it are hilarious bozos 🤡

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Sam H

@Lynelfate Aug 4

It was a great watch, funny, compelling, and overall must watch

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Dennis Dugan

Director

Adam Sandler

Happy Gilmore

Christopher McDonald

Shooter McGavin

Julie Bowen

Virginia Venit

Frances Bay

Grandma Gilmore

Carl Weathers

Chubbs Peterson

Happy Gilmore: Trailer 1

2:11

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - The Waterbury Open

3:00

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - This Place Is Perfect

3:05

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - The Price Is Wrong, Bitch

2:52

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - Quilting Sweatshop

2:59

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - Chubbs Sees Pro Material

2:54

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - Happy Goes Ballistic

3:00

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - Rhyming with Shooter

1:18

Happy Gilmore: Official Clip - Cut and Dumped

2:48

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Happy Gilmore: Happy Gilmore - Best Scenes

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Synopsis

All Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) has ever wanted is to be a professional hockey player. But he soon discovers he may actually have a talent for playing an entirely different sport: golf. When his grandmother (Frances Bay) learns she is about to lose her home, Happy joins a golf tournament to try and win enough money to buy it for her. With his powerful driving skills and foulmouthed attitude, Happy becomes an unlikely golf hero -- much to the chagrin of the well-mannered golf professionals.

Director: Dennis Dugan
Producer: Robert Simonds
Screenwriter: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Robert Simonds Productions
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Sports
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 16, 1996, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Apr 27, 2025
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 15, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $39.0M
Runtime: 1h 32m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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