Formulaic and dumb....but worth seeing for one scene.

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2009)

HAPPY GILMORE is a very shallow and formulaic film. Despite some odd twists (such as a hockey player somehow making a great golfer), the overall plot structure is very, very familiar. In many ways, this film is like CADDYSHACK combined with the typical "poor guy makes it big" film--with few major surprises. So, when Gilmore ends up having his big golf game at the end of the film, don't look for anything particularly novel or surprising.
So far, it sure sounds like I am not big on this film and that would certainly be correct. However, part-way through the film, there is one of the singularly funniest scenes I can recall seeing in a film in recent memory. DO NOT READ ON UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND MY SPOILING THIS FOR YOU!!! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!! During a celebrity golf tournament where celebrities are teamed with pro golfers, Happy is paired with Bob Barker. Repeatedly, Happy makes a nuisance of himself. It becomes so bad that the usually nice persona of Barker disappears and they have a UFC-style fight that is very funny. After all, seeing a very elderly Barker in a fight is funny--at least in a silly and unsophisticated way. And sometimes I could use this sort of laugh.
So, while the film is far from great, there is enough to see and enjoy that I mildly recommend it. Plus, for parents it's one of the few films that kids like that you can watch without feeling your brain cells rotting away--like it would if you were forced to watch LITTLE NICKY!