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

Feb 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

Apr 15, 2008

D+

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

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Brian Lowry

Variety

Apr 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, 2026

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, 2026

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, 2025

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

May 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

May 1, 2025

Classic movie that just gets better with age!

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Brad

May 1, 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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Fro T

@frothizzlereviews Sep 18, 2026

Adam is at the top of his funny-bone game here, the quotables are galore, and I crack a rib with every watch. Ben Stiller as the abusive Hal is worth the watch, alone. Carl Weathers is awesome as Chubbs, and gets to display the goofier side of him as Happy’s mentor. Bob Barker’s cameo will always be legendary, and might be the greatest fight scene in cinema history. 10/10

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Barb B

@Sparkleprincess Sep 15, 2026

Cute movie. Seen many times.

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TheFilmCritics

@TheFilmCritics Aug 29, 2026

Happy Gilmore is a comedy that doesn't just build up momentum; it arrives swinging. Adam Sandler’s manic, hot-headed performance turns a ridiculous hockey-player-turned-golfer premise into an endlessly entertaining sports comedy, elevated by Christopher McDonald’s gloriously smug Shooter McGavin, Carl Weathers’ charm, and a surprisingly warm emotional core. The Happy-Shooter rivalry supplies a steady stream of quotable, wonderfully juvenile laughs, while the film’s themes of family, loyalty, and finding where you belong give the chaos genuine heart. Its familiar underdog formula, thin dramatic complexity, and devotion to slapstick hardly qualify as flaws when the movie so completely understands its own appeal. Ridiculous, reckless, and irresistibly funny, it remains one of Sandler’s most enduring and rewatchable comedies.

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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

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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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