Parents' Guide to

Happy Gilmore

By Alex Orner, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Adolescent humor at its best/worst. Lots of profanity.

Movie PG-13 1996 92 minutes
Happy Gilmore Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 12+

Based on 19 parent reviews

Elle_Smith
Elle_Smith Adult
January 1, 2021
age 9+

Happy Gilmore

I think Happy Gilmore is an amazing movie to watch with your 9 plus year olds the highlight movie of our family’s COVID
2 people found this helpful.
Ollie_review
Ollie_review Parent of 8-year-old
February 21, 2020
age 13+

Happy Gilmore is Hilarious!

Happy Gilmore was pretty funny. In multiple scenes he swears at a camera, though it is beeped out. S**t, F**k and Jackass are used lots. Naked body parts and seen twice though they were both brief. Lots of violence.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
1 person found this helpful.
See all 19 parent reviews

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?

Our review:
Parents say (19):
Kids say (117):

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.

Talk to Your Kids 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?

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