Netflix And Chill: Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

If you ask any Adam Sandler fan what their favourite Adam Sandler movie is then you will likely get a variety of answers, depending on whether or not that person likes his comedy work or his more dramatic performances. But most would at least mention Happy Gilmore as a contender, which makes this a belated sequel with no small amount of pressure on it.

The years have passed, a tragic golf-related accident has caused the death of Virginia (Julie Bowen), and Happy Gilmore is left with a bunch of children and a whole load of debt. And a drinking problem. His years of golfing success are far behind him, but getting back on the fairway could be the solution to all of his problems. If he can stop drinking and return to the form of his glory days. He's older now though, although not necessarily any wiser. 

Where Sandler used to get his friends together and film something in a sunny and picturesque environment (making it a bit of holiday time alongside the filming), he now tends to make films that have roles available to his family members. At least four of them appear here. His wife, Jackie, his daughters, Sadie and Sunny, and his mother, Judith. They don't spoil the film, generally doing great work, but it's worth noting because of how many times the Sandler surname pops up throughout the cast credits. Thankfully, the 114-minute runtime allows for a whole range of eclectic supporting players (sometimes literally), from a number of real-life golfers all joining in with the fun to returning favourites like Ben Stiller and Christopher McDonald. Benny Safdie has a blast as Frank Manatee, the douchebro looking to take golf somewhere new and exciting, Bad Bunny is a lot of fun as a waiter-turned-caddy named Oscar, John Daly plays a fictional version of John Daly, and Haley Joel Osment proves to be formidable competition on the golf course. I wouldn't have the space here to name everyone else onscreen, but some of the more memorable cameos come from Margaret Qualley, Eric André, Post Malone, Steve Buscemi, Eminem, Nick Swarsdon, Jon Lovitz, Boban Marjanovic, Ken Jennings, and Guy Fieri.

Although Tim Herlihy and Sandler are back on the writing duties, Kyle Newacheck is in the director's chair this time (with Dennis Dugan, director of the first HG movie, joining the names I just mentioned to have some fun in front of the camera). Newacheck does a decent job, delivering what is his best feature so far, but it feels like an easy gig. Once the screenplay was written, knowing how much of the film relies on goodwill and nostalgia, all Newacheck had to do was ensure that he had plenty of coverage while everyone was enjoying themselves. The jokes here are obvious and silly, but they're nicely in line with what we got the first time around. In fact, admittedly, many of them are just the same jokes, maybe slightly reworked, with flashbacks to remind people of what they laughed at the first time around.

I'm not going to waste time rating the various performances of everyone in the cast. Some do much better than others, but the film is anchored by Sandler doing his very familiar schtick. You'll already know if you want to watch it or not. Highlights are definitely Safdie and Bad Bunny though, but McDonald is very welcome whenever he appears, and I was surprised by how much I was able to laugh at lines delivered by the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler may well be the ace up the sleeve for the third act of the movie, which is something I never expected.

There are a number of expected montage sequences, the soundtrack has the energy required to accompany the standard "underdog comes good" plotting, and if you're surprised by anything that happens here then I would have to assume that you forgot everything that happened in the first movie. There are times when I want something new, or something thought-provoking. This wasn't one of those times. I just wanted some more silly jokes about someone rough-around-the-edges being unexpectedly good at whacking a golf ball. I just hoped that it wouldn't disappoint those, like myself, who rated Happy Gilmore as one of Sandler's very best comedies. I wasn't disappointed. This was everything I wanted it to be. It was familiar, comfortable, and, most of all, it made me laugh. I'll still rewatch the first film more, but I would happily make time for this again whenever I'm in the mood for some crazy golf.

7/10

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Prime Time: Drugstore June (2024)

Whenever movie fans look back over a year just gone by, it's a chance to catch up on all of the overlooked titles that seem to appear in the lists of recommendations from others. Most of those will be things that you were at least aware of - a blockbuster you missed at the cinema, a horror that wasn't showing anywhere near you, or a worthy drama that you just didn't have the energy for - but some fine films remain surprisingly overlooked. Drugstore June is one of those films. I am especially surprised, considering how I view this and Babes (which I have yet to review here) to be up there with some of the best comedy films in recent years.

Esther Povitsky is June, a young woman who ends up with a surprising sense of purpose when the pharmacy that she works in is robbed. June thinks that she has the skills to solve the crime, but she's barely got the skills to remain aware of how she affects other people around her. Or so it seems. The plot winds from one bizarre encounter to the next, including a running storyline about June refusing to let her ex, Davey (Haley Joel Osment), move on from their relationship, but there's always a focus on June trying to finally achieve something that isn't just tied to her usual interests.

I wanted to see Drugstore June since I first saw a trailer that made me consistently chuckle. If you check that out and enjoy it, rest assured that it almost perfectly represents the film that you're going to get. June is a comedic creation to rival the very best, and Povitsky is genuinely brilliant in the role. The fact that she can be so unrelentingly . . . June while somehow not making you want to always throw her into a very deep ocean (although you may well feel that way sometimes, especially in the first act) is a testament to the writing and performance.

Director Nicholaus Goossen helped to work on the screenplay with Povitsky, and it's clear that both of them have a solid grasp of the vibe and character. There are a few neo-noir tropes played with here, to great effect, but the personality of June overshadows everything else going on around her, whether she's trying to get a perfect pic for her Instagram or exaggerating her status as an online influencer to anyone who has a conversation with her. The film couldn't work if that was all she was though, and the satisfaction really comes from seeing just the tiniest amount of growth, in both her detective skills and her maturity.

Povitsky is a star. Although I've not taken note of her in anything else she's done before this, I'll now be keeping an eye on everything else that she's doing. Her turn here is pitched perfectly in between the monstrously narcissistic and the sweetly naive, and it's hard to imagine anyone else getting the balance so right. Bill Lee is amusing, playing June's boss, someone who seems to have a great deal of patience and optimism . . . or maybe just a complete inability to find anyone else to hire in her place, and both Beverly D'Angelo and James Remar are entertainingly exasperated parents. Brandon Wardell is an irritating brother, Al Madrigal and Jackie Sandler are the two detectives trying to do their job properly, despite encountering the whirlwind that is June, and there are fun cameos from Matt Walsh, Bill Burr, and Bhad Bhabie. Osment is also very good in his small role, and Miranda Cosgrove incurs the wrath of our lead by simply being Osment's new partner.

I admit that I might be heaping a bit too much praise on this, trying to do my bit to tip the scales in favour of something so sorely neglected when it came and went last year without anyone really taking note of it, but I also know that I could happily watch this on a loop for an entire day and keep finding different little moments and lines of dialogue to laugh at. It's brilliant, and, in my opinion, should have appeared on numerous lists mentioning the very best films of 2024.

9/10

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Blink Twice (2024)

Some may roll their eyes at Blink Twice starting with a pretty serious trigger warning, but I don't have a problem with it. The subject matter here is something that needs to be carefully navigated, and if any film warrants a trigger warning at the start of it then it's this one.

Naomi Ackie plays Frida, a young woman who cannot believe her luck when she and a friend (Jess, played by Alia Shawkat) end up blagging themselves into the exclusive company of super-rich Slater (Channing Tatum) and his friends. When I say super-rich, I mean that he has the kind of money that allows him to have his own private island, and that is where everyone goes. It's a remote paradise, with everyone enjoying plenty of food, drink, and a variety of illicit substances. But Frida starts to worry when she realises that she has lost track of time, and she has no idea when, or how, she will get home.

This is an impressively bold feature directorial debut from Zoë Kravitz, who also co-wrote the film with E. T. Feigenbaum, but I have already had conversations with people who really disliked what she ended up delivering. I think, personally, that there's an important balance here between things we know to align very closely to real people and events and things that work as a bit of cinematic wish-fulfilment. If you've been reading some of the dark and depressing news headlines of the past decade then you will know who is being (not so) loosely represented onscreen, and the whole film serves as a reminder that justice still needs to be served, as well as being a conversation-starter about the behaviour, entitlement, and different perceptions of abusers and victims.

Although it feels best to start with the female cast members here, for obvious reasons, I am going to praise Tatum for his willingness to take on a role that paints him in such a bad light. He's still charming enough for most of the runtime, which helps a lot in showing the women being seduced by the combination of the setting and the company. Alongside Tatum, making up his inner circle, are Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex, and Levon Hawke, and they all do well as fellow party-goers who spend a lot of their time making sure that everyone else remains smiling and blissfully ignorant of any dark undercurrent. Geena Davis also deserves to be highlighted, with her character easily as important as either of our leads, in terms of her part in the proceedings and how she creates another big part of the post-film conversation. Ackie is the real star though, and a great lead to stick close to. She's absolutely brilliant, and the script allows her to enjoy herself for a long time before cracks start to show in the idyllic environment around her, but it helps that she's supported by Shawkat, as great as usual with her portrayal of the ride or die bestie that every woman wants in her life. Adria Arjona also does great work, and actually gets some of the best development of any of the characters, and both Liz Caribel and Trew Mullen do well to avoid getting lost in the busy mix as the party slides towards a close. 

The more carefree moments are soundtracked by the kind of tracks that go with that cool party vibe, but there's also a superb score from Chanda Dancy running throughout the whole thing, and Adam Newport-Berra keeps the visuals light and vibrant until that glow of contentment starts to disappear. I thought this worked on a couple of different levels, and Kravitz has surrounded herself with people who are able to help her walk a very tricky tightrope (including editor Kathryn J. Schubert, and all of those responsible for the whole look and feel of the luxurious playground where we spend most of our time). I know that others disagree, but that disagreement is almost as valuable as agreement with something like this. It's all about the conversation, and keeping that conversation going is one way to stop people from forgetting how these horrors keep being perpetuated.

8/10

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Tusk (2014)

Tusk is a strange beast, no pun intended (considering the content of the film). A highly flawed, uneven film that many will find impossible to like, it shows writer-director Kevin Smith continuing to develop and highlight his darker side. Many of his comedies had black humour in them, of course, but it was Red State that really let him dip his toes into something approaching horror. Tusk, at least on the surface, does the same. But the fact that it's actually a comedy makes it a tough one to easily recommend.

Let's get the basic storyline out of the way. Justin Long plays a podcaster named Wallace Bryton. Wallace and his friend,Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), use their airtime to look at clips on the internet of people who have gone viral, mainly through stupidity but sometimes because of certain strange characteristics. Wallace is always after the next big thing with which to shock and impress his audience, which takes him to the home of an old man (Michael Parks) who assures him that he has a story or two to tell. He does indeed have some stories. But his most interesting one hasn't been completed yet, and it may well involve Wallace.

Based on an idea that came about during Smith's own podcast (SModcast), and featuring a number of ideas and even lines of dialogue pre-approved by his fanbase, you'd be forgiven for wondering if Tusk was a franken-film. It certainly feels, at times, like a number of disconnected scenes thrown together with little thought given to the central storyline. Yet it also has a pretty obvious message underlying most of the content, so writing it off as nothing more than an easy fan-pleaser is probably doing it a bit of a disservice. It's also worth noting that every moment that doesn't quite work, every comedic beat that feels too weird, every wild image pushing the film further into dark absurdity, it all shows a confident (or brave . . . . . or foolish) director in the hot seat.

Long isn't at his best here, but he's not too bad. His characters is supposed to be mildly irritating, at best, and he is. Parks is the star turn, reeling off tales that range from the sublime to the ridiculous with equal ease and aplomb. Osment and Genesis Rodriguez both do well in supporting roles, with the latter playing the girlfriend of Long's character, and there's a performance from Johnny Depp to add to another list of his kooky performances. It's that performance, if anything, that should clue viewers in to the fact that this is a pitch black comedy. Although if you don't get it by that point then you've just not been paying attention.

Anyone expecting another piece of nastiness like The Human Centipede (First Sequence) should content themselves by instead renting The Human Centipede: Full Sequence. This is a film aimed more at people who start to grunt and mutter as soon as they hear of yet another internet "celebrity" with no obvious talent. It's not one I'd rush to revisit, but it's certainly an interesting curio.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Tusk-Blu-ray-Michael-Parks/dp/B00NX8RUZE/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1418819387&sr=1-2&keywords=tusk