Plot: What’s it about?
The sport of golf has come a long way since “Happy Gilmore” first arrived in 1996. Later that year Tiger Woods would make his professional debut and change the sport forever, making it more popular and almost single handedly making the sport more mainstream. At the same time, Adam Sandler was then pretty much known for his work on Saturday Night Live and his previous movie, “Billy Madison” was his only foray as a leading man. “Happy Gilmore” changed all of that and while not a huge commercial success, the gross was modest enough that it got him noticed and the rest – as they say – is history. One thing that always boggled my mind was the fact that there hasn’t been a sequel. As mentioned before, both the star and the sport are much more recognized than when the movie aired and it would seem to be a no-brainer to make another. But then again, I’m not a Hollywood executive. “Happy Gilmore” was a showcase for Sandler’s juvenile humor and no one loved it more than me.
We meet Happy Gimore (Adam Sandler) as he’s trying out for a local hockey team for the um-teenth time. By his own admission, he’s got the heart of a hockey player but wasn’t exactly the best puck-handler. Essentially, the only thing Happy brought to the game of Hockey was his slap shot (which could shatter the Plexiglas) and his temper (he holds a record in that he’s the only person to ever take off his skate and try to stab someone with it). After his grandmother’s (Frances Bay) house gets repossessed by the IRS, Happy discovers that he can make some money by hustling people at the driving range. You see, movers were playing with his grandfather’s clubs and to get them to go back to work, Happy had to out drive them…a major plot point there. Happy quickly falls under the wing of Chubs Peterson (Carl Weathers), a one-time touring professional who had his hand bitten off by an alligator. Happy makes it on tour and has eyes for the PR girl, Virginia Bennett (Julie Bowen), only to find out that she doesn’t date players. The only thing standing in the way of Happy winning the money is Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), the current tour champion who thinks golf was better without someone like Gilmore.
Now I’ll be the first to admit, as a film critic, that “Happy Gilmore” isn’t the best movie out there. I personally like it and have seen it countless times. For every “Casablanca”, “The Godfather” and “The Graduate” there’s four or five movies like “Happy Gilmore”. Adam Sandler has become more commercially successful in his movies, but I really don’t think I’ve laughed harder at his performance than in this movie. Under the surface is the comic performance of Christopher McDonald, someone who’s done drama and comedy and can pull each off very convincingly, his Shooter McGavin is likeable yet despicable in the same sense. Sure this movie has its flaws and there’s more product placement than you can shake a stick at (then again, watch a golf tournament on a weekend and count the number of advertisements you see), but that’s that. Suffice it to say that this will probably be the only movie, past or future, that has a fight scene between a game show host (Bob Barker) and a golf player. Couple that with a sociopath nurse (Ben Stiller) and you’ve got one helluva movie on your hands. Fans of the movie will pick this DVD up because of the widescreen transfer and for those out there that haven’t discovered it, I can’t recommend it enough.
Video: How does it look?
The main appeal of this new Special Edition is that we finally get the movie the way it was meant to be seen. This was one of Universal’s initial releases (back when half of their catalog titles were released in full-frame only) and they never re-issued it in widescreen format…until now. It seems that it was worth the wait as the 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer really looks pretty good. Naturally a majority of the movie takes place on the golf course and the green grass contrasts very nicely with the colorful outfits worn by Happy. There was some dirt on the print as expected, but really nothing to complain about. Flesh tones seemed warm and natural as well. You can finally throw away that old full-frame DVD as this new DVD shows the movie the way it was meant to be seen.
Audio: How does it sound?
I have to admit that I was surprised to see not only the Dolby Digital 5.1 track that appeared on the first disc, but a DTS track as well. Universal was a big proponent of DTS back in the mid-90’s and this movie was one that benefited from that sound format. While “Happy Gilmore” certainly won’t compare to the really killer soundtracks out there, I found a fairly big difference between the two tracks. The DTS has more of a deep, rich sound while the Dolby sounds a bit dry and brittle. Surrounds are used effectively and dialogue sounds perfect coming out of the center channel. This was an unexpected bonus and one that I’m glad was included on the disc.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Sadly, there aren’t a lot of supplements on this disc. There are some outtakes and 7 series of deleted scenes. These are shown in a non-anamorphic widescreen format and don’t tell why they were used, but we can see that they slow down the pacing of the movie. Some border on being outtakes. A funny one that I’ve seen on television (when shown on TV, Universal takes out some questionable material and uses scenes that weren’t in the movie as filler) involved Ben Stiller’s character at the nursing home. We see Happy take care of business with him! Some Production Notes are also included. While this isn’t the DVD to “end all” Special Editions, it’s certainly a step up from the previous version.
