Found this surprisingly moving in the same way I find modern Sandler as an actor and comedian moving. There’s something admirable about remaining so steadfast in your persona and what makes you laugh that it circles back into being refreshing. Especially when every one of your contemporaries has become so entrenched in whining about the world going “woke.” Sandler’s specials have been the only comedy specials I’ve enjoyed over the last decade or so because he’s solely concerned with telling jokes. Great jokes at that. All while allowing his age and confusion about a world passing him by to shine through in ways that don’t turn into cheap attacks on progress. It’s genuinely lovely and feels, at this moment in time, when every facet of pop culture is a boring ass culture war, revolutionary. This is all true of Happy Gilmore 2. A very silly, often funny look at how sad and pathetic making a legacy sequel is. He’s not trying to recapture former glory or remind the world that he was once one of the biggest stars in the world. He’s just trying to do right by those he loves. Kinda puts Sandler’s often-lambasted middle period of lazy “friends on vacation comedies” into a sweeter context. He’s just a guy who got lucky doing what he loves, and if he can bring the family along, even better.

I really loved this.