Happy Gilmore

  • Review Date: October 19, 2005
  • Rated: PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Release Year: 1996
  • Running Time: 92 minutes

Common Sense Media says

Adolescent humor at its best/worst. Lots of profanity.
  • Review Date: October 19, 2005
  • Rated: PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Release Year: 1996
  • Running Time: 92 minutes

Age(i)

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Quality(i)

 
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What parents need to know

Positive messages

In its own silly way, the movie shows the importance of controlling one's temper, in golf and in life.

Positive role models

Although he's shown -- comically -- as a frustrated hockey player trying to learn golf, Happy Gilmore also is a loving grandson who begins to learn to control his emotions.

Violence

As a frustrated hockey player, Happy GIlmore frequently (and comically) resorts to violence when he loses his temper. He gets into an over-the-top fistfight with the game show host Bob Barker. He throws a man through a glass door. He also is shown breaking a bottle and threatening to fight the antagonist of the movie.

Sex

When asked to go to his "happy place," Happy has a fantasy of the lead actress in a park on a bed, dressed in lingerie and holding two pitchers of beer. As he starts to get famous, Happy is shown autographing the cleavage of a young woman and then an elderly woman.

Language

Frequent profanity: "f--k," "piss," "jackass," "dips--t," "goddammit," "a--hole," "s--t," "bastard." While losing, Happy is shown going on a foul-mouthed tirade on national television where every other word is bleeped out.

Consumerism

Frequent and unrelenting product placement of Subway subs, in the form of hats, T-shirts, signs, commercials, and a scene where two of the main characters are eating at a Subway restaurant. The various golf tournaments are sponsored by AT&T, Michelob, Visa, and Pepsi.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

Characters are shown drinking beer, wine, and martinis. People attending the golf tournaments are shown drinking beer; Happy's caddy is shown wearing a hat that holds a six-pack of beer with plastic tubes going from the beer to his mouth. Cigar smoking.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the biggest red flag for this movie is the cursing and violent behavior of Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler). His short fuse results in a number of skirmishes, including an extended (comic) fight scene with Bob Barker. The two brutally pound on each other until Gilmore is eventually knocked unconscious. Another scene has Gilmore threaten another golfer with the shards of a broken beer bottle. The profanity shies away from sexual comments and is composed mostly of "f--k" and "s--t." Older kids will enjoy Sandler's over-the-top and abrasive humor, as well as the ongoing joke of a golfer's handicapped hand that was eaten by an alligator.

Parents say

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What's the story?

What happens when you take a psychotic hockey player who holds the only league record of trying to stab somebody with his skate and throw him on the links with tranquil golfers? Adam Sandler is in one of his funniest roles as Happy Gilmore, a man with a hard, aggressive core and a surprisingly sweet center. After hearing that his grandmother has lost her house due to back taxes, Gilmore is forced to come up with $270,000 to save it. Despite the maniacal hockey player's thunderous slap shot, Gilmore can't skate worth a dime and thus seeks alternatives to raise money for his beloved grandmother. Under the guidance of "Chubbs," an ex-pro golfer who lost his hand to an alligator, Gilmore surges up the golf circuit and knocks out his competition.

Is it any good?

QUALITY
 

Second only to Billy Madison, HAPPY GILMORE stands out as one of Adam Sandler's best works. The movie pokes fun at the rather "stiff" golf world and spices it up with a character that makes Mike Tyson look like a level-headed individual. Anyone and everything sets Sandler into a crippling fury. For anyone who's seen Sandler's work from the mid-'90s (SNL or Billy Madison), the film's humor becomes quite predictable, but kids are likely to enjoy it. Appropriate for older teens.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about Sandler's character. His best friends include a physically challenged ex-pro golfer, a homeless man, an amiable public relations woman, and his sweet grandmother. In addition, Gilmore earns a lot of money through his golf tournament wins with the goal of saving his grandmother's house. Do these sweet-natured friendships and altruistic deeds make up for his violent behavior? Is it the humor or the violence that makes Adam Sandler films so popular?

  • Why do you think there's so much product placement for Subway subs in this movie?

  • Was the violence in the movie appropriate for what was happening in the story and with the character, or did it seem gratuitous?

Movie details

Theatrical release date:February 16, 1996
DVD release date:February 24, 1998
Cast:Adam Sandler, Carl Weathers, Christopher McDonald
Director:Dennis Dugan
Studio:Universal Pictures
Genre:Comedy
Run time:92 minutes
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:language and some comic sexuality

This review of Happy Gilmore was written by

Alex Orner

About our rating system

  • ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
  • OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age.

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Quality

Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging, great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging, good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging, okay learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Teen, 13 years old Written bycooldude1000 August 19, 2009
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loved it
What other families should know
Too much swearing
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Kid, 12 years old April 7, 2010
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10
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Must-see movie!

Fantastic film. Very laugh-out-loud. Quite a lot of swearing and a few short snaps of violence, but nothing too bad. What is also quite funny is that it's like a grown man throwing a foul-mouthed temper tantrum throughout the whole film!
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Parent Written byPlague December 15, 2009
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11
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Happy Gilmore

Rich in hilarity and witty humor that even dull lawyers would find funny. If Caddyshack had a sequel, this would be it.
What other families should know
Great messages
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