The story begins with a guy named Happy Gilmore narrating about his childhood passion for hockey. He played hockey until his father died. Then he went to live with his grandma.

In the present day, Happy still enjoys playing hockey. However, his grandma is about to lose her house since she has been unable to afford the rent. Happy offers his grandmother a retirement home nearby—except that the residents are forced to perform unfair labor every day and not complain about it to anybody else.

In order to help his grandma get more money so that she can get the house back, Happy decides to play golf. He can actually swing the balls over 400 feet away.

While at a golf course, Happy meets this guy, Chubbs Peterson, who used to be a professional golf player until his hand got bitten off by an alligator.

Chubbs offers Happy a chance to enter the Waterbury Open. If he wins, he will earn an automatic spot on the PGA tour along with a cash reward. Since he needs money for his grandmother, Happy accepts the offer.

Happy plays several rounds of golf. He even becomes a fan favorite due to his ability to swing balls so many feet away. Although he is talented, his behavior is not always good. When something goes wrong, Happy throws meltdowns and swears like crazy.

At some point, this woman, called Virginia Venit, meets with Happy. She warns him to get his act together and to stop throwing meltdowns and cursing during golf tournaments. If he can follow her guidelines, he can continue to participate in golf. Because he needs money, Happy changes his behavior. He also develops romantic feelings for Virginia. They also go skating during their date.

But things get worse for Happy when this man, Shooter McGavin, sees him as a threat. Shooter pays an obnoxious guy named Donald to mock and taunt Happy during the golf tournaments. This causes things to go downhill for him.

Later, Happy competes with the celebrity Bob Barker. Because of Donald, Happy struggles. He also gets into a fight with Bob Barker. This causes him to get suspended for a month as well as fined.

Can Happy turn things around and earn enough money to help his grandma? Or will they lose the house?

This movie kept my attention all the way through. I admired how much Happy cared about his grandma’s happiness.

Watching the golf tournaments was also fun. I would constantly hope that Happy would make it through. Seeing him score always satisfied me.

Like with any good movie, the character development was strong. Not only did I like Happy’s relationship with his grandma, but also Virginia and Chubbs. I enjoyed disliking both Donald and Shooter. I also felt bad for Happy’s grandmother when she lost her house and was mistreated at the senior home.

I am impressed with how much knowledge of golf needed to be used in this film. It made the movie more exciting and the golf tournaments more credible. I could not help but really root for Happy.

The fast pacing also played a role to keeping my attention throughout the movie, even though I only laughed sometimes. The plot itself contributed to this, as well.

And of course, there were lots of twists and turns in this film.

Overall, I enjoyed Happy Gilmore. Even though the last several minutes lagged a bit, this movie remained fun and engaging. I would recommend it to everyone 13 and over. It’s rated PG-13, so it is not suitable for young children.

Anyway, I give this film 4.5 out of 5 stars.