Happy Gilmore

It's all in the hips! It's all in the hips!

This is one that's near and dear to me. There isn't any other film that I consider on this level. This essentially took a stuffy sport, which is renowned for its gentlemanly like conduct and completely turned it on its head. To say that I was in hysterics when watching this first time around was an understantement.

If you've read me in the past then you'll know that I used to play in my international golf team (under 14's) before I was weeded out for "ungentlemanly conduct," which was a fair assessment of me at the time. But I am no stranger to the strange (and often questionably strict) rules of golf. Not many people would guess it by looking in, but golf really is a man's sport. And Happy Gilmore just blows it out of the water. The two hairy bikers having sex just off one of the greens is a hint at how outlandish this film went.

I can remember being 15 at the time and loving absolutely every minute of this film. From the fist fight with bob barker, all the way to threatening to stab his opponent with a broken beer bottle -- this film takes the hilarity and brutishness from rough contact sports (like hockey) and applies it to golf.

So much fun!

Happy Gilmore (played by Adam Sandler) is an absolute hockey mad young man. He eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. So much so that he keeps trying out for his local team. One fall back though, and that is that he can't skate for toffee. And the coaches can never take that risk, so he never gets picked.

Sadly, his Nan who raised him from a child is now having her house repossessed because she owes lots of money in back taxes. She never thought she should pay the taxes because her husband built the house with his bare hands. So she has to be taken to a nursing home.

As happy is overseeing his nan's house repossession he's trying to watch the hockey game and the removal guys have a bet to see who can hit the golf ball with the old set of clubs they find. That's when happy storms out telling them to shut up, get a move on with their job and stop messing around.

One thing leads to another and that's where happy learns he can hit the golf ball over 400 yards - something no golfer has been able to do without wind assistance or steep fairway slopes.

Finding out that he has a unique ability to the world of golf he makes a plan to hustle golfers on the driving range to see if anyone can out drive him, which they cannot. That's when he's spotted by ex professional golfer "Chubbs" Peterson (played by Carl Weathers) who wants him to come and play professional golf because his massive drive will give him a distinct advantage over the competition.

Obviously happy declines because golf is a game for losers and people that wear silly clothing, but after he finds out about the prize money involved he realises he might just be able to save his Grans house!

.. and then all hell breaks loose.

Such a good film. I laughed all the way through it. I miss this type of Adam Sandler comedy, I wish he would bring it back!!

But a good watch. Go see it!