And just like that, I, too, did a guest spot on the Kelces’ podcast. Those guys are a trip! We spent an hour just talking about Party of Five! We also talked about Travis’s cameo in Happy Gilmore 2, but I’ll get to that. You see, when that movie dropped on Netflix, I had to make a painful confession to my wife: I’d never seen Happy Gilmore. She was pretty shocked, given that she felt it was right up my alley. Growing up, I never really did Sandler movies. I mean, I loved the guy, and went to great lengths to get his CD They’re All Gonna Laugh At You, after a camp counselor introduced it to our cabin. Still, I had only seen The Waterboy, as my mom had made it a Blockbuster Night with that one. So, before I could watch the new one, I had to watch the original.
I’m gonna take a minute here to rant about the idiocy of streaming. You see, Netflix landed Happy Gilmore 2, but hadn’t found a way to renew their deal for the original. So, when the sequel landed on the streamer, the original was only available for THREE MORE DAYS. I mean, I guess that’s better than it not being there at all, but someone should have coordinated that better. It’s not like they haven’t had Sandler locked into an exclusive deal for over a decade!
Anyway, I watched it, and it was more hilarious than I’d imagined. Lindsay was right. It was up my alley! Given it was 30 years ago, it was funny how much had changed since then. How is 2025 Julie Bowen hotter than 1996 Julie Bowen? Pre-Jared Subway! Was that their first major product placement deal? I still think I might prefer the antics of Bobby Boucher, but this was good.
You’ve seen it by now, but Happy Gilmore always wanted to play hockey wasn’t a great skater. When his grandmother – the woman who raised him – has her house repossessed due to unpaid taxes, Happy translate his hockey skills into golf skills, hoping to win enough tournament money to save her house. Meanwhile, celebrated pro golfer, Shooter McGavin, isn’t too happy with this young upstart who doesn’t seem to respect the game.
Still, as much as I enjoyed it, the film wasn’t without its problems. Now, since 3 decades have passed, some of these have probably been addressed in some random interview or YouTube series. I ain’t got time for all that, though, so I’m just gonna air my grievances here. First off, I hated how the movie does nothing about Ben Stiller’s character. That just sort of drops off. Makes you feel like there was more footage of him tormenting Grandma that we just didn’t get to see. Related to that, the movie felt too short. There were other things they could have gone into. Maybe give us more Chubbs content? They try to act like Happy and Chubbs had this Micky/Rocky vibe, but he hadn’t really known Chubbs that long before starting on his golf tournament spree. I also needed more villainy from Shooter. Sure, he’s set up as a cocky foe, but he doesn’t really get “evil” until he buys Grandma’s house. And, even then, he does feel evil. It’s a calculated move, but it hadn’t been earned. Everything just escalated quickly there! Finally – and there’s no proof of this, unless it’s in some deleted footage – I got the impression that Grandma didn’t necessarily care for Virginia. There’s no specific dialogue, but I’ve lived among women long enough to know when they don’t like each other.
So, with that out of the way, I was ready for the sequel. I had actually avoided all trailers and spoilers because, not long before that point, I simply didn’t care. I figured the fans would be excited, but I wouldn’t get any callback jokes or anything. Now that I had been properly educated, it was time. Lord, I didn’t know they were going Rocky V with it!
Happy had continued to win at golf, while he and Virginia had 5 kids: 4 boys and a girl. While the boys are just a rat king of testosterone, the girl was Happy’s baby, and a promising dancer. Then, it all comes to a halt when Happy accidentally drives a ball right into Virginia’s chest, killing her on Mother’s Day. Since she handled all the business, Happy got behind on bills, lost his grandmother’s house AGAIN, and he has to take his kids back to the old neighborhood after losing everything. He develops quite the drinking problem, and he turns his back on golf, as he wallows in guilt. When the daughter’s dance instructor says that she’s good enough for a fancy dance school in Paris, Happy thinks the only way he can afford it is if he returns to golf. So, that’s what he does. Meanwhile, there’s a new upstart trying to revolutionize the sport of golf, and he’s creating his own extreme league to go up against the PGA. So, Happy is trying to help his daughter pursue her dreams, while also protecting the “sanctity” of golf. He has a little help, though, from an older Shooter McGavin.
I know some folks weren’t keen on the film, but I enjoyed it. It does seem like it’s doing too much, in that these are 2 movies. Either focus on Happy’s comeback OR focus on him going against Maxi Golf, but don’t mash them all together. First off, Happy “rediscovering his rhythm” was too quick, and really just served to allow for an Eric André and Margaret Qualley cameo. That’s another thing: THE CAMEOS! None are “gratuitous”, per se, but some are better than others. I could have done without the aforementioned Kelce, but some really surprised me (Mr. Marshall Mathers, for example). Bad Bunny was better than he had any right to be, but it was hard to accept Haley Joel Osment as a villain, seeing as how he just looks like a cuddly Ewok now.
I also didn’t love how the film handled Shooter. While I love a good “former enemies must team up against a shared foe” trope (Hell, that’s every comic team-up formula), none of that worked for me. Shooter having been locked up for the past 30 years, merely due to the events from the finale of the first film? I could see him having a temporary break from reality, but they really want us to believe he completely snapped. I’m not buying that. They would have needed to seed some mental illness stuff in the first one to pull that off. And he snaps out of it simply because GOLF needs him? And since when did Happy being to *care* about golf? It was a means to an end. Maybe he developed a love for it over his playing career, buy he had also turned his back on it for the better part of a decade. I don’t think Happy is the type of guy who’d play for the “sanctity” of anything, especially old school golf. Hell, it was his introduction to the sport that opened it up to the masses. He was bringing in a new audience, yet now he wants to keep golf as it is?
On the other side of this film, the Maxi Golf stuff is terrible. Everything about it. It gave us more cameos, like Becky Lynch and Oliver Hudson, but we didn’t need it. Not here. Plus, I didn’t think Benny Safdie was the right casting for Maxi Golf owner Frank Manatee. This was clearly an Eric André role, and Andre was RIGHT THERE! He’s already played douchebag tech startup bro several times. He would have been perfect in that role, yet I’m starting to feel like our “Eric André Window” is closing. He’s getting older and fatter. He should have been a star, but now he’s settling into ensemble roles.
Anyway, it’s not the kind of franchise built to withstand scrutiny, and it’s still an enjoyable film. I just think we should stay away from revisiting 30-year-old franchises, as it was a nice sentiment that the original actors were included, but everyone was SO FUCKING OLD! That’s probably why they had to kill off Virginia: Bowen actually looks younger than she did then, and it would be jarring to the viewer. Still, I’m glad I watched it.
Trailer Park
Marty Supreme (Theaters, Christmas 2025)
Call me a “Hater”, but I just have a predisposition to hating Chalamet. That said, the boy can act. And he gets intriguing roles. He’ll win me over yet. This is one of those things where I think “Who the fuck cares about ping pong?”, which is probably what the writer of this film heard when pitching it. But ya know what? This trailer made me care. Now, I’m a sucker for “Forever Young”, so nice job with that song choice, but it still looks, dare I say, “powerful”? To me, the most jarring aspect is the presence of Shark Tank‘s “Mr. Wonderful” himself, Kevin O’Leary. And this doesn’t seem like a mere cameo. He gets BILLING! Yeah, I’ll watch it once it’s streaming.
Run The Numbers
I’m still reading that 500+ page book, so I’ve got nothing to report on this week. Let’s hope that changes next week.
Links I Loved
Someone made a 3-hour radio show, using all of Howard Hesseman’s Dr. Johnny Fever clips from WKRP In Cincinnati. He might mention that a certain song is about to play, and then that song actually plays right afterward. It’s a really cool project that you can check out here.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- This week marked 20 years that Andy Stitzer, AKA The 40-Year-Old Virgin, has been sexually active. We’re all getting old, kids!
- Xfinity went ahead and moved Cartoon Network to their More Sports & Entertainment package on Tuesday, leaving many (including me) without 6 daily hours of Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball. I am far from the only one upset about that.
- It was announced that Todd Stashwick (Star Trek: Picard‘s Captain Shaw) will play Paladin in the MCU Vision Quest series.
- Speaking of Stashwick, Captain Shaw was discussed at the ST-LV: Trek To Vegas Convention, where Picard showrunner Terry Matalas said that his plan for a possible Star Trek Legacy series would have included Stashwick as the Emergency Engineering Hologram.
- Also at ST-LV, Enterprise producer Mike Sussman and star Scott Bakula are working on a pitch for Star Trek United, which would focus on post-Enterprise Jonathan Archer as president of the United Federation of Planets.
- NBCUniversal acquired all rights, excluding publishing, for Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne franchise, across multiple formats, *in perpetuity*. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of any corporation acquiring a property forever before…
- Angry football fans have vowed to stop watching Minnesota Vikings games after the team revealed two males joining the cheerleading squad.
- Finally, Dr. Danielle Spencer, best known as little sister Dee on What’s Happening!!, died after a battle with cancer.
It’s all anyone was talking about once the countdown clock went up online: Taylor Swift was going to announce something at 12:12 on 8/12. Well, when the moment arrived, we got a clip of her on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, revealing the title of her new album: The Life of a Showgirl. The full episode, however, wouldn’t go live until Wednesday, at which point the album art would be revealed.
It was a shrewd business move, and not one that I necessarily loved. You see, up to this point, they had kept their businesses and their relationship separate. Now, however, she went on Kelce’s podcast – his business – to make an announcement about her business. It doesn’t help that some folks have branded theirs to be a false “PR Relationship”, but it just reminds me of the fact that these relationships NEVER WORK OUT. Seriously, when is the last time two superstars (I add that because someone is probably gonna name some Tyler Perry couple from the Chitlin Circuit, and they don’t count) mixed business with pleasure, and had it work out? Sure, it’s sort of cute at the time, but it’s cringe-inducing when those episodes come up in syndication, or that movie hits the clearance bin. So, not a fan.
Still, a new Taylor album is a big deal. I sort of think it’s too soon. The Eras Tour just ended. Plus, the man in the White House isn’t her biggest fan, and he’d just love to have a new target to go after. I don’t think the current climate is healthy enough for a *successful* Taylor release. This feels like the album that will be underrated, only to be lauded in the future for its quality. I…I just don’t know. Still, for dominating the pop culture discussion, the New Heights podcast had the West Week Ever.