The Worst Idea Of All Time - Dennis Dugan: Happy Gilmore

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

How much do you want to know about Happy Gilmore (1996)? Because Timbo and Guyguy have just re-watched it and it turns out: This is in the pantheon of Guy’s favourite ever movies, and Tim know how to use Google. Peak behind an all-timer comedy movie, which came out during an insane run of big studio comedies (right in the middle of Jim Carrey’s golden era) that will likely never be repeated. The movie is essentially perfect so let’s glaze the heck out of it before we see the sequel and more importantly, as we brace for Grown Ups 3 impact.Please support our quest and enjoy our faces (on video episodes) at twioat.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim here, if you want to see me in the flesh and you're in New Zealand or Australia, good news. I'm coming to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington for the comedy festivals. Please buy some tickets now at timbat.com.com. Welcome to the worst idea of all time. What we're doing at the moment is exploring the sandlerverse? No, it's the sandless system. Sandless system. Into the sandless system.

Every time with me. Yeah. Every time with this man. Sandlerverse is washed. Something verse is washed. Okay. Into the sandal system? Yep.

And what's bigger? A universe or a solar system? A universe? Well, there you go. We're not going, you know, we're not doing all movies. Yes, that's true. Okay. Sweet as.

So I'm taking my headphones off. We've got a situation. Where we're wearing headphones and we're thinking about taking them off. I'm in one ear and guys in the other in it. Honestly, it's rigging me out. It's stressing you out. They're coming off. I'm keeping them off.

on if you're listening. If you're listening and you want a visual picture of what's happening, Tim's not wearing headphones, Guy is. And that could change at any given moment. What I was thinking about is this is all lead up to us doing... Grownups 3. The incredible task of grown-ups 3, which is getting a lot more hubbub and reality is starting to sit in.

Yeah, in production. Recently got an image shared from a sort of, what appears to be a dinner table scene. and a lot of the old crew are back together. Schneider is at the table. Schneider's back. Mr. President, Schneider is back at the table. Actually, couldn't believe my eyes, but I saw that fucking little face peeking out from the table.

Quite shocking. That's not what we're here to talk about today, but good Lord, you better believe we'll be talking about it very soon to you on this same podcast stream. I tell you what's interesting about it. Not a Dennis Dugan joint. Yeah. That is interesting.

It's, I think, is his name Kyle Neuerichick. He did Happy Gilmore 2. I think he is the off-screen collaborator of the workaholics guys. Oh, true. That guy. I think they've got new comedy fingerprints on some old properties. Well, that brings this neatly to what we're doing at the moment. So in our run-up to a year for you of grown-ups three, two years for me,

another help you please wait. Another server. It is, I'm fathomable to me that you're going to do. So this is kind of like, before we head into the gym and really fuck ourselves up, this feels like we're in the spa pool at the moment. Like what we're doing at the moment is we're relaxing our muscles and we're having a nice lovely time.

That's nice. I think of it as watching other people's workout videos. And today we watch Happy Gilmore, which is... I would say... Happy Gilmore. Generally regarded as Adam Sandler's best comedy film? Yes, I think he considers it. that his favorite, you know, outside of like the, you know, the Paul Thomas Anderson and the

Saffty Brothers sort of collaborations, I think this is his favorite part of his output. And fair enough, it must have come pretty early on for him. So this is, this is 96. I think Billy Madison might have been the year before. He's off contract from SNL. He's been let. He got fired, right? Yeah, he got let go. His and Dennis Dugan's first collaboration, as we discussed in our last conversation after problem child Dennis Dugan tried to get Adam Sandler a role didn't happen and then years later

Dennis Dugan showed up to pitch for directing Happy Gilmore and himself like you're the fucking guy trying to get me in the movie you're in and the system works Dennis Dugan did damn great Dennis Dugan did the damn thing also unbelievable acting performance

from Dennis as Doug the head of the golf tour so I mean it seems insane to me that anyone would not be familiar with Happy Gilmore, but if you're not, it's about a sort of down-as-like a wannabe hockey player who discovers he can hit the living daylight

out of a golf ball. Crucially, he's got quite severe anger management issues. Which is very part and parcel of his skills as a hockey player. But he can't scare. Honestly, every part of it is so good. Like, an aspiring ice hockey player who's actually pretty powerful at hitting the puck

but can't ice skate is like sensational. Honestly, so this is, this is like, this was, as a child, this is my favorite movie. I was not allowed to watch television as a child. We'd get one TV show a week, like on weeknights. We watch Saturday morning cartoons. And look at them now, everyone. This is what happens when you starve your kid from TV. They become TV.

Mark Zuckerberg wasn't allowed to use social media growing up. And look at them now. So. I was never allowed to listen to podcasts. We, yeah. Man, we were so far out. We were so deprived. But the show that we could agree on, my older sister and I,

and this is sort of from, I'd say, 9 to sort of 1415, was Friends. We'd watch Friends. This is like back in, you know, primetime TV, weekly release. And I would always look forward to watching Friends. The year must be 1997, because I'm looking forward to watching Friends and our neighbours come over on a school night with a VHS of Happy Gilmore. And they say, you're not watching Friends tonight. we're watching this.

And I was like, no, what are you talking about? You can't do this to me. Like, Friends is the thing I have to look forward to every week. And they go, no, we're going to watch this movie, Happy Gilmore. And I was so like, you know, they were older than us. There was two girls. It was my oldest sister. I was, you know, I'm fucking powerless in this situation.

So they put on Happy Gilmore. And I proceed to laugh as hard as I have laughed in my entire life to this point. Like, I am enamored by this movie. I don't actually know to look up this. soundtrack but Tuesday's gone by Leonard Skinner which opens and closes this film is embedded so

deeply like in my brain cavity I cannot even begin to describe the full body tingles I got when you know the universal picture like the movie starts and that riff comes in I was just like yes fucking hook it like as deep

into my body we are so bad possibly can and then it's just such a clear This is such a clean movie. This movie does not miss. This is the tightest collaboration between Dugan and Sandler and the most, like this is the watermark for what an Adam Sandler and Dennis Dugan film can be. This contains so many things that, so many tropes that we will later see them trading on, you know, with less and less enthusiasm and impact. But I just like the opening montage, you know, it's classic sort of Sandler.

They have like flashbacks to establish story at the start. But the opening montage, the sort of the gag stacking up on themselves inside of that opening montage, all scored by that Lynette Skinner song. I was laughing. I was still having goose, but I was like fucking, you're back in the house. I was full, I was full body responding to this. And then it just didn't let me down. It did not let me down from woe to go. I didn't laugh as much as I, you know, as I did as a boy.

It's because you're looking down the barrel of 40. But that's not the movie's fault. I just, you know, this was just. such a thing of beauty and joy. What's interesting to me is this movie had like critically mixed reviews when it came out. Highly profitable for I think what it was for a memory budget of 14, 12 mill made 42 at the box.

But it had mixed reviews but I feel like if a movie like this came out now everyone would be like this is a five-star comedy. Well this is because they don't make, you know, they don't make these movies anymore. We didn't know how good we had. every year that they don't make movies like this, the ones that do exist get further enshrined. Or like the pedestal gets, it looks further away so it looks higher up on the pedestal. I was shocked at how, unless something's really passed me by, like how well it aged as well.

Yeah. Like it's good, it's fine, it's good. It still works. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like, there's nothing too offensive that caught my eye. There's also nothing that really dates it massively, like technology or anything in there. I mean, this guy, he makes fucking... Because this is a 30-year-old.

movie now? He makes yeah, he makes family movies. 30 years. Think of that. So he's, Sandler's 60 because he's 30 in this. Imagine that. He's turning 60 this year. That makes sense to me. He's there quite a large and storied career as well we know. Yeah. Farah,

he's so prolific. I mean, it's like this sets the table for what becomes his career. And honestly, he's got buckets of talent and like it is such a confident leading man performance. I think he would have had a lot writing on this you know s nl's gone yeah he really needs to establish himself the surrounding cast is phenomenal yeah i but i just yeah i think speak you brought up

soundtrack before before i forget it um original composing in this done by i believe his name is mark mothers mark mothersbar from devo yeah who also did uh the crash bandicoot soundtrack and a lot of other like video games and movies and stuff. Man the 90s would have been a very busy time. Yeah, yeah. For Mark. I mean, it's all, it all worked. You've got like light touch of product placement. All these, would we say light touch? Well, relative to what we know is coming fucking down the freeway. But that like the Adam Sandler bell curve of product placement is completely different. This movie actually introduced me to Subway. I think, did it. Yeah. I literally didn't know Subway existed until this movie. That's so much nicer than Jared

introducing you to Subway Sandwiches. No, Jared introduced me to love. Good Lord. This movie, I think, genuinely broke ground for product placement in movies. And there's something about, like, Adam Sandler's just unabashedness, and it's wrapped in sort of a meta joke of it

because it's like, happy is trying to generate enough. But what the driving plot of the story is, is that his grandma has missed her tax. for years and years. His grandma who raised him. Yeah. Oh, okay. We should, yeah.

So he is raised as a boy by his dad. Happy's dad is obsessed with hockey to the point where his mom leaves to go to Egypt. Yeah. Because she's sick of all the hockey in the house. So then he's raised by his dad who keeps taking him to hockey games. All he wants to do is be a hockey player, Happy, as a kid. And then they're at one of those beautiful father-son hockey games. And his father gets sconed by a puck.

is killed. So then as a boy... This is all scored by Tuesday's Gone. And if you haven't seen this movie or you don't know Tuesday's gone, I implore you to either pause the podcast and fucking listen to it in its entirety. You've got two devices. Get your other one on. Have it on in the background.

Yeah, please. Get your laptop out while your phone's doing on. Read yourself. So then he goes to live with his grandma and is raised by her who opens the door wearing a Jean Simmons Kiss mask to try and lessen the burden of him having lost his father recently, which is beautiful. And that's, again, that's like the perfect level, but it's a perfectly layered joke inside of the sort of what will become the morkishness that plagues Adam Sandler's kind of

output. The morchishness. I just feel like the balances, the flavors are so beautifully balanced here. So this is all inside of this flashback montage. And they're layering jokes. So he wants to be a hockey player. Can't skate. Can't skate.

Keeps going for it. For years and years and years, the recruiters know him by name, they're disappointed to see him out on the rink again falling over. Pick and fights with everyone. He beats the shit out of the coaches. Picking the team. Before we get to that, because I still want to stay in this flashback for as long as possible, because there is a run of gags.

So he's getting raised by his grandma. He wants to be a hockey player. And then he talks about the jobs that he's here. Oh, that's right. And he was a laborer, a janitor. And in all of these instances, he takes like, you know, and this is something that I took with me into my entire life, but it'll take whatever. Janitor, he grabs the broom and puts it between his legs and humps it. Yeah, that's right.

He works it, he's a gas station attendant. He puts the pump between his legs, sprays it and humps it. Yeah, that's right. He's a security guard. He puts his, like, baton between his leg and pretends it. And then he does one where he says, and a plumber. And then it's just like, it's a different flavor of gag. It's not ass crack

This is what makes it brilliant It's a whole ass Coming out of the jeans Fuck, it's just so funny And then still in flashback And like his, He's retelling it He's retelling it

He's like He accidentally fires a nail gun Into his boss's head As a labourer Who is Jaws Yeah From Moonraker From the Bond movies

Who winds up having a role And then I can't remember Who does he get into a fight with Him He gets into a fight with his Bond So Jaws if you don't know From the Bond Because I think he's the only

villain Oh, now there are a few actually. He is a Bond villain that's in more than one bomb movie. He's in two, Moonraker and something. And he's massive. It's kind of his whole thing as his physique. He's like maybe seven foot. He looks like.

He's a very big Hulk king. Yeah, yeah. Looks like kind of a Soviet built man. Yeah. And Heavy Gilma was showing off on the laboring site and fires a nail gun. It lands in his head. And then he's like, yeah, we got into a fight. And then you see a shot of Adam Sandler in a hospital bed, like his face completely destroyed.

He goes, yeah, he got in a few lucky punches. But I like to think I want. on the fight. I'm fucking I'm slapping my knee. It's so good. So then the driving force of the movie is revealed to be that the grandma that raised him is about to lose her house to the IRS

because of unpaid taxes and that is a house that her late husband built by hand. And so Happy's like, we've got to save the house somehow. So then he... It's with the the movers are taking rid of everything and he's repossessing all objects. And he has a bet with them

because they're taking his granddad's They're slacking off, hitting golf balls. And they say, yeah, they have a bet. It's like, hey, man, you guys go get back to work. And they're like, fuck off. And he's like, if I can, you know, outrange you. If I can do a drive. Yeah.

Get it further than you. Then you go get back to work. And it just cranks it 400 yards. And then they go, do it again. We'll give you 20 bucks. Does it again. I go, do it again, double or nothing. Does it again.

And then they're like, you know, how to play golf. Yeah. Thus is the sort of propellant. So then he goes, he goes. down the driving range, which is something I emulated from this movie. My dad likes golf. After watch the movie, I was like, let's go to the driving range.

And then I was fucking happy Gilmore. It was like, you can't do that. And I was taking full body run-ups at the ball. And hitting the shit out of it. Does that work? So I've never tried the happy Gilmore swing. I think it works. I mean, I'm not a physicist.

But my understanding is it works in terms of you can. Physically the ball is capable of going longer. because of the extra power generated. You lose all accuracy. You lose all accuracy. Right. But yeah, so then he's,

Habey starts showing up at driving range and making money off just fucking hitting the shit out of the ball. Fleecing all the... Carl Weathers as a former professional golfer called Chubs catches sight of him and says, you're too talented for this. We're going to get you on the tour. Chubbs is a retired golf pro

and he had to retire because an alligator ate his arm, his hand. Yeah. But his hand. off, which I'm pretty sure is the tip of the hat to his character and Predator who gets his hand ripped off by an alien. So they put that in the movie and he's got

this wood in hand and then it accidentally happy Gilmore smashes that hand onto the road. He says, don't worry about it's wood, it's very strong and then a truck immediately robs over it. Which is just like a classic gag but it's executed to perfection. There's a gag

rate which is, it seems like because the gag rate exists in future films but I think what really sings to me is the gag rate in this one the hit rate on the gag rate is so high because in that same run you've also got happy standing in a baseball cage like it's part of his office

it's so funny it's just been revealed to have like supernatural driving abilities and then it's like cut to he's like I got to go to Cal Withers to Chubbs Chubs is like this guy's unbelievable like I'm going to turn him into a profession he's going to be winning the Masters

it's going to be incredible and then he's like I got to go so he goes into the batting cages and is just getting baseball's fired at it. No helmet, no bat. He's just taking it to train for the hockey season. Stuffening himself up for the next go at trying to get in a professional hockey team.

Carl Weather's like called him out and he comes out and starts talking to him and in the background. You see a kid who's watched him do that being like, awesome. And then he goes in and just gets knocked the fuck out. Carlitha says something like you've got to stop. You make him feel sick. Watching him, taking these balls.

It's so good. And a lot of, I mean, Look, and so it just rolls on from there. In terms of the hit rate of the gags, do you know who is an uncredited, like, script fix wrapper on this? I do. It's Judd Apatow. It is.

Well, Judd Apatow and Adam were old friends. I think... They might have lived together at some point, right? Wasn't there some famous apartment? One of them showed up at the other one's house in Los Angeles, I believe. I don't remember the order. I feel like Judd would have showed up at Adams. Feels right.

Adam found success earlier. Totally. I've been paying rent before him. Yeah. I mean also one of the pro golfers so they couldn't get

the license for the PGA so I don't know what they call like the tour that They call it the champion The champions I think In this tournament inside of the tour So the champions is obviously As like the Masters

And so they've got the Instead of the green jacket Which is what you're one of the Masters They do the gold jacket Well do you know the story behind that So they went to a pro golfer Chris Lye is that his name Mark Lye

Yeah To get like script advice on the golf They got a professional golfer to give them, yeah, notes. Be a consultant. And he was like, this is an absolutely disgusting travesty, besmirching the good name of the PGA. Do not do this to golf. And they're like, all right, we'll change some stuff. It's not a green jacket.

It's a gold jacket. And it's not the, because originally was the Masters. And it was like, that can't be. Yeah, the PGA won't have it. And they also said, don't have Happy Gilmore make so many holes in one. Because even if he can hit it that far, it just wouldn't happen. And then he's got a line in the movie. When Happy first shows up to the clubhouse,

when he makes it into the pro tour and shoot him a Gavin, this is like, I mean, we'll get to that performance. But he shows up and they're all shooting the shit. And the golfer who's like, hey, heard about that whole one on a par four, amazing. That's the guy, Mark Lai, who gave them notes, who was a professional golfer at the time.

I mean, there's just, I suppose, it's a study, you know, to zoom out a little bit again, It's a study in hunger, like desire, need, just how functional this movie came out. It was the fifth draft, we ended up being the shooting draft. They needed this to work. Both Dugan, who had done Problem Child, which was a surprise hit, and then I can't remember the name of the second one, which was a flop, that he couldn't get Sandler in.

Sandler's just been let go. Oh, that brain, whatever. Yeah, yeah. He's just been let go from SNL. Like, there is a need permeating this movie. Right. There is a very powerful... This is when you're at the casino and you've been up.

So you walked in... They have a lay of an agency that you do not have at a casino. You walked... No, no, no, because the industry is so random, man. It is... I think the casino is the perfect analogy. They've walked in there with $200 in chips. And the $200 in chips is Problem Child

and the successful run on SNL, respectively. Billy Madison. No, Billy Madison. He's done Billy Madison. Fine. Yeah. And then they've gotten down to a $25 chip. And they've gone, all right, we're going to go to the roulette table with this, and we're going to make it all back.

And full credit to them, they put it on the middle third, and they got up to 75, and then they said, let it ride. And they left that chip there, and they did it again. And now they're on $225. Someone knows how to play roulette. I'm literally learning how to play roulette while you describe this analogy. Three to one. Yeah. Pay out, because it's slightly less than three to one.

odds if you get a third of the table. 75 times 3, 225. You got 25 more dollars than you walked in with with your 200 chips. So they, thus concludes the analogy. But like, you know, you think about

their future collaborations, I think after this, the next Dugan Sandler was Big Daddy, which I remember also enjoying. Again, it was probably a little bit more heavy-handed in the emotion. Like, there's a, there is a, A story engine.

Is Waterboy Dennis Dugan? It's not. Dugan's not Waterboy. Oh. I think it was like from to the best of my memory because I was looking at this, you know, in my downtime, in the offseason between conversations with you. It went, this is just Dugan Sandler. Happy Gilmore, 96. Then it's Big Daddy, 99, which I saw at the cinema.

and loved John Stewart in a rare acting role and Leslie Mann Joe Appetal's wife John Stewart is really good actor I think Death to Smoochie one of my favorite movies Death To Smoochie Great film Danny DeVito

Yeah Robin Williams Yes Yeah And fucking And fucking Not Joan Cusack No Oh no

Well that's not the one I'm thinking of But the guy Who's the fucking fight club guy who's not Brad Pitt. Edward Norton. Yeah. Crazy cast. Crazy cast.

I think it was critically reviled that movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was misunderstood, I think, that film. And I think it lost a lot of money. But it was, it's brilliant. Anyway. But yeah. So happy Gilmore, big daddy.

Then it might be, I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. Ah. So I would look at that. Is Dennis Duggan Jack and Jill? Yes. So it's Chuck and Larry. So there is a cliff. It's Chuck and Larry.

Don't mess with the Zohan. It's Jack and Jill. Or maybe it's grown-ups then Jack and Jill, then-Grantz too. I've never watched Don't Mess with the Zohan. It feels like there's a Dennis Dugan cliff. Yeah. Well, I think after Big Daddy, you can look at it all as like, well, we're just showing up and making the studio and ourselves buckets of money.

Speaking of Zohan, Ben Stiller isn't even credited in this. He's not on the credits, which is so nuts. How is that speaking of Zohan? Isn't he the star of that? Don't mess with the Zohan. Yeah. Or is that Adam Sandler? Oh, what's the one I'm thinking of?

That's Ben Stiller's... I don't know. Oh, what's the one where's the model? Zoolander. Oh, maybe that's right. No, it's a Z's. I'm going to get you. No, yeah.

I mean, Ben Stiller, like, the sort of... Have you seen Don't Mess with Zohan? No, I've not. Okay. I mean, it's somewhere... That one looks pretty... We'll get to it. I guess we'll get to it.

I was going to say it looks miscible, but not for us. We can zoom on over to that black star. I mean, but like you look at them and you can see like, you know, you can see the youth and the hunger and the need for something to work. And then you can see almost the point at which it's like, well, we are trusted, we are established, we are loved. We can probably, it's inevitable. Like the complacency creep. You can see that the hand come off the wheel a little bit. Okay, brilliant.

This is why we're doing the project is an observation of the artistic method. and sort of what the influence of commercial success can do to erode it. Because you're right. Yeah. So when you were talking about hunger, I thought you were talking about Happy Gilmore's character. Were you? Well,

it's sort of both, it's parallel. Like, you know, his character is infused with, and the other great thing in the story engine is it's like, it's a scrappy underdog versus an institution. It's like,

it's basically, you know, as a lot of, Trump, the movie. As a lot of golf movies are, it's like, it's poor versus rich,

right? Yeah. Because the people who, like, Shooter McGavin and Doug, like the people who are resistant to happy Gilmore's popularity. And if you look at the people who start arriving at golf tournaments against the snooty establishment who are already watching them. It's completely overrun it. And it's freaking people out. It is. It is Trump.

It's Donald Trump. The people's champ who finally got in the door to the people's house. And then knocked down the swing. But that little bit of it is so cool as well that he's bringing like the Great Unwashed in to watch. and encouraging everyone to chair at the guy. It's like, it would be cool if someone did that in real life. Who's that cool golfer who's always got a cigarette in his mouth? John Daly, I think it was.

It feels like he's kind of the closest to like a cool guy in golf. I think, well, I mean, Tiger Woods was probably, he must have gone pro not long after this movie came up. Golf experienced like a huge popularity explosion. You know, this movie was part of like a golf revolution. Right. And Tiger Woods, you know, and much more formal where, obviously, racially represented a sort of another kind of evolution to the sport. Yeah, yeah, like, and resistance from some of the more backwards parties.

But it's like all, I suppose, you know, I don't want to lose momentum on what you're saying about creativity and the arc of creativity and what it is. But like all of this stuff is just part of why I think it works so well. Like they could write their experience of wanting something and coming up against. something into the movie. And I think why perhaps some of the critical response was more negatively geared was because it's pretty slapstick and it would be measured against a hugely successful and critically beloved golf movie comedy movie and Caddyshack. And so if that's your reference point and you've got the same critics reviewing an

upstart movie. Yes. You know, they are being critical of Happy Gilmore. The movie in the same way the golf institution are being critical of Happy Gilmore, the character. That's interesting as well because that is again like S&M. now superstars making a golf comedy movie.

So 96, this came out, right? When was Jim Carrey's unbelievable run of like the mask? So Jim Carrey's running red hot right now. Right. So there's, God damn. So there's like, and 97 you've got. There must have been a ballistic 18 months period at the, well, you've got, look out. You got Mike Myers on the fucking, um, Austin Powers one.

I mean, like this is a, and these are seminal movies for me as a kid, like, you know, I'm sure for you as well. This is like... Austin Powers, I've probably mentioned this in the pub before. At one point when I was a kid, I could recite every word of the movie. Tim, I don't doubt it. I mean, but this is like, this is an historic time.

This is like, you know, and you say they don't make them like this anymore. Like, this is comedy is, I don't know what else is going on to the box office because this is what I'm zoomed in on. But like comedy, it feels like I can go to the cinema multiple times every year and one of the most successful,

movies across all genres is going to be a comedy starring someone who I'm like, well, you're the funniest man alive. Yeah. It was just fucking unreal. Didn't know how good we had it. Well, the good news is, you know, they're making other Austin Powers. They made another Happy Gilmore. Jim Carrey does paintings now.

It's not the same. It's not the same. So you were talking about the slapstick elements of this movie and probably the marquee moment of this film, which was used both to promote it. like in the trailer this is in there, it won an award, and I think it will be the moment that is most remembered of Happy Gilmore, is an extended fight sequence

between game show host Bob Barker and Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore, and it is such a superbly choreographed fight scene where a, I would, as it says it's saying, like in early 70s, your old Bob Barker beats the living shit

out of a 30-year-old Adam Sandler on the green when they appeared together in a pro one. tour and Happy Gilmore lets him down. So, yeah, there's more surrounding, in terms of story context, basically, Shooter McGavin is like worried about Happy Search. He's our villain. He's our antagonist.

I mean, he's so much more than just our villain antagonist. This is like one of the great, again, across genre lines, villain performances of any. This is like career defining. Yeah. I can't remember the actor's name. Couldn't tell you. Christopher, I have to honour his performance by finding it.

Sure. It's too good. Here we go. Bruce Campbell from Evil Dead wanted to do it. Christopher McDonald. Right. Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGovern. So he's...

Isn't Chris McDonald also the name of Robin from Batman and Robin? But like a different... Oh, Donald. What are you saying? McDonald. McDonald. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Is Robin not Robin's name?

What do you make? No, no, no. I mean, the actor. who plays Robin and Batman and Robin. I see, yeah. Because his name is Robin, right? I'm pretty sure, yeah. Anyhow.

It's for a different podcast to answer, not for us. I don't think Adam Senless Bean in a Batman movie. So, not yet. He can do what he wants. He can. While we're in the sidebar, like the other thing that I think you see, you know, to discuss creativity and drive,

the other thing you see, if you measure, the movies against the men is you see Adam Sandler meet Jackie, you see them have kids, you see the priorities shift, you see the comfort of the money that's been made, you see the priorities shift, and this is why Adam Sandler, I think, is like untouchable off-screen.

I think why he's so beloved in such an institution as he is like he takes care of his people. He's made all the right choices. When he makes a movie, he looks at where they can make the movie. And I think that what is informing those decisions is like, where is a great place to take my family? And the families of the other, like, it's like, where is the summer camp? Where is a town that has a great basketball court, like a place we can put everyone up? Like, if you look at grown up, it's one, like, a fucking water park.

Fifty first dates. Let's go to Hawaii. Everyone can stay in a resort. We're going to get all of the family to come. And I'm going to make a shitload of money while we'll do it. But that is like second to the family holiday experience I'm providing. Not just for myself, but for the families of so many people I love. Yeah.

I mean, it's not shocking to consider that that priority might coincide with the quality of work going down. We're actually the film reviewers are reviewing the wrong thing. What they need to be going through is holiday photos, first-hand accounts by crew members and actors. And actually, not the actors. The actors' children and special. I swear to God, if you did... That's what the critical review should be. There has to be a rotten tomatoes for the children and spouses review of film productions.

That is the real tell. Yeah. Just for Sandler films. Yeah. Just for Sanler. He's the only guy who does it like this. And then you see his like, you see the work peak again when he's collaborating with people outside for Happy Madison Institution.

Here are the three tomato ratings. Critics, crowds, children. The three saves. Yeah, yeah. But not children who have seen the film. No, no, no, we cannot emphasize that enough. Crew children. Yeah, yeah.

But so it's like, yeah, it's just, this is the value of being in the sam or system. So this is before all of that happens, crucially. Yes. So this is before that priority is kicked in. That's right. And this is before the family is around and those considerations. I also want to reemphasize the point I just made, which is like the quality of work you see in him when he's really, like, punch drunk love, uncut gems. When you're seeing Sandler, like, you know, and then he's still got some absolute bangers inside of his repertoire, like, wedding singer, I think, holds up, you know.

But when you're seeing him, like, reach new heights as an actor, the family didn't come. Oh, absolutely not. And that's, yeah, I mean, you can't fault that, man. He's doing the right thing. But his daughters are, like, his daughters are in movies coming out now. When we're watching grown-ups, too, we're not watching a movie. We're watching the byproduct of a family vacation. So, like.

We're watching the bloopers of an movie. actual family holiday. It's so terrifying for us running up to a year of grown-ups three. Because do you know what he's done? He's not perfected the out of film making. He's perfected the out of holidaying. And we have to deal with the dregs of the vacation. That's right.

For anyway, not what today's about. But good Lord, it's just the more you think about it, the scarier it becomes. Yeah. Especially because now the roles have flipped a little bit. Now we are the family men. That's right. We have. competing priorities.

It's interesting, isn't it? Because now... Which are going to be damaged. He's in a position where everyone and his family, well, his family have outgrown having to travel with him.

They're making their own stuff now. But, you know, they have outgrown the need for the work and the holiday to be married together. Our families, and our nascent families...

Desperately need their puppers. Desperately need the puppers. They really need the pappas. and this is exactly the time at which Sandler, in an absolute judo masterstroke, has put us in a chokehold and said, all right, fuckers, I see what you're doing. The check that you wrote ages ago?

Yeah. I'm cash in it. I'm cashing it now. I'm never acknowledging it. I'm cashing it at the worst time imaginable. He's sliding it across the table without making eye contact. Yeah. Look me in the eyes.

Tell me you don't love me now, Adam Sandler. We're going to take this. check all the way to the fucking bank. Do you know what I was telling someone about two days ago? The time when we saw Adam Sandlin perform stand-up comedy live at Largo, I think, in Los Angeles. And when we saw him outside with Jackie and you and I debating, do you remember that moment? Yeah. He was in front of us.

He was maybe 30 metres away from us. Yeah. And we debated, do we go up to him and introduce ourselves? And we decided, no, let's not do it. Yeah. I don't regret that. Let him stay a God. Yeah.

You know? It's interesting actually. I'm just thinking, he sort of went away from stand-up, but his stand-up output since going back to it, first with 100% fresh, which must be like seven or eight years ago now. They're great.

Yeah. Like his stand-up, the stand-up he's gone back to is fantastic. He's just like, he's a fascinating guy, but let's, okay, let's come back to have a Gilmore. Yeah, I think you wanted to talk about Chris McDonnell.

Oh, my God. I mean, Shooter McGavin. is like from from the off so that there's two performances we haven't really covered yet and we also sort of glazed past the bob barker fight what i want to say about that so shuddin mcgavan is the antagonist he's uh like golfing institution chris mcdonnell city model among greg norman who was a great australian golfer who has one of the all-time meltdowns at a major he's nickname was the shark he has one of the coolest logos in the history of sports He had his own logo.

Look it up. It's a multicolored outline of a shark. I honestly think it's awesome. I would love to own some of it. However, Greg Norman has gone on to prove himself to be a fucking cunt. Greg Norman spearheaded the Liv, the Saudi-backed rebel tour. Oh, I can't remember what it's said for. Oh, this was the rival to the PGA?

Yeah, so he represented the sort of... They cut up. Kikshogi and then they were like now to wash this blood away a golf tournament well basically we're gonna we're gonna try and take ownership of nearly all professional sports models around the world but Liv has been a

failure they've actually just recently stopped bank rolling Liv and a lot of the golfers who got offered eye-watering sums to go the PGA said you're not allowed to continue to compete in the traditional tournaments in our in our tour so have they've been so they've been blacklisted and then but the

PGA kind of bent the knee a little bit before it was obvious that Liv was going to collapse. But anyway, so yeah, Greg Norman was the spearhead of that, and he was sort of like, he was the figurehead of it. So it's one of... Was it basically the golf equivalent of that Olympics they tried to do recently, but they're like, whatever drugs do you want to do, do them, and then compete in this version of the Olympics? I would say, that is probably more ethical.

But it's just, you know, I would be... I'd stop short of calling it one of life's great tragedies that I can't happily own some Greg Norman merchandise. But it's on a list of grievances. Sure. But so he was the model, pre-live, he was the model for Shuddy McGavin, Chris McDonoughampton's Shudda McGavin. So Shudda McGavin is like, he's a dominant figure on the golf tournament in the movie. He's never won the, what's it called again, not the Masters? I think they call it the champions.

Yeah, he's not one that the champions. and he sees the emergence of Happy Gilmore and he wants to destroy him. This is his time, by the way. So he has sort of been the perennial runner up. He is among his peers the one who has not ever taken home to the golden jacket. And everyone on the tour is like, it's your time. And the first time we meet him,

he's opening like an amateur invitation or where the winner of it will get to make to the pro tour. And Happy Gilmore shows up. And he meets Julie Bowen who plays, what's the... The PR? Yeah. What's her name? Person? I can't remember.

That's all. awful. She's got a really confusing surname. Virginia Venet. Venet is the surname. Julia Bowen, who I didn't realize until a rewatch, is the mum from modern family. Yes.

Yes, yes, yes. So young Julia Bowen and Doug, Dennis Dugan, the head of the tour shows, I mean, he's like, this is the head of PR. Virginia. And he goes, you do something? Get us a Pepsi darling.

And then she goes, oh, okay. And he goes, oh, and a little bit of ice. No, no, no. He says, Virginia, yes. Diet. Oh, there you go. And it's like, oh, this guy fucking sucks. Great introduction of a character.

It's all there. It's all there in three seconds. And then when we first meet the public-facing version of him, so Doug's welcoming everyone to this amateur invitational. He goes, we've got a special guest. And shooters in the background just like pretending to look at something on a banner so you can turn into a big reveal. It's just so,

It's beautifully played. It's beautifully written. He turns around and he goes, welcome along. You know, I saw I was out playing with Doug yesterday and I got to tell this guy spends more time in the sand

than David Hazelhop. Big laugh from the audience. And he goes, now, while only one of you will become my colleague today, I already consider all of you, my friends and everyone claps and you're like,

this is perfect. We hate this guy. Yeah. So he, like, his, it's a brilliant performance. It's a flawless performance. It's a flawless performance.

He actually didn't, so he didn't want to take the role, Christopher McDonald, because he was tired of being typecast as like an antagonistic figure in movies. Right. And then I think he read the script and he went out for a round of golf and then he saw some of Adam Sandler. And he was like, I'm in. Yeah.

And I'm so glad he did it because he, and then since then he's tried to be cast in different Adam Sandler films. Adam says to him, Chris, I'm sorry, man, you'd just shoot it. Yeah. Well, that's interesting because he brought back Chubs. Chubs isn't another car. Carwethers. Yeah. Yeah, but as Chubbs.

the character isn't another Adam Sandler movie, I think. No, that's crazy. He's mixing his medicines? I thought so. Well, I mean, he did get to come back and have a big one or two, but he's like, he's just so good, such a villainous turn,

he's got so many great comedy beats, but he's so easy to root against at the risk of getting too deep into the run of quotes that I want to sort of single out. One of my favorite moments is like, he's standing on one of the T-boxes and the big old boss who got the nail on his head who shows up.

Jaws. Jaws. He shows us a massive fan of Happy Gilmore. He goes, you're going to go for the green shooter? And he goes, well, that's impossible. And he goes, happy Gilmore did it. And on five minutes ago, something. And then he goes, well, moron, good for Happy Gilmore.

Oh, my God. Turns around to see a seven-foot tall man with a nail embedded in his head. It's just so good. he's so good also we get to see him recycling the same Hasselhoff joke and one of those like it was funny that you know he's like it's good

it was funny the first time I heard it and he's also got that classic all-American villain look where he's like that is a deeply handsome man who was probably captain of the football team in high school and it's all gone to his head and that's how you achieve a look exactly like that at the age of 45 like there's no other route

to looking like that apart from early success in high school, probably peaking there and becoming a real piece of shit. And never letting go. Yeah. The glory days were never quite fulfilled. You're not joining the police force somehow, though.

And it's poisoned you. Yeah. But no, I mean, he's so good. Also, Julia Bowen is Virginia is like the love interest is fantastic, resistant to dating happy. She doesn't date golfers. I would almost say in terms of acting, Adam Sandler is the weak link in this movie in terms of performances.

Perhaps like range, but I don't think there's nothing he did which, like sometimes when I would watch Seinfeld, I'd see Jerry truly hanging on in the company of greatness. Yeah. There's a confidence that is imbued in Sandler's performance which is like, I belong here,

this is my vehicle, that I really, I didn't question. I know we're talking about Happy Gilmore, but it's an interesting point you make about Seinfeld. I think that is so true. Jason Alexander is like a uniquely gifted actor. Yeah. And Julia Louise Dreyfus is like,

all-timers, yeah. Crazy. And Michael Richards, like, yeah. Michael Richards, again, like, just, you know, for what he did in that show, unmatched by anyone ever. And then Jerry's just kind of like, you could have put someone else in that role very easily. No, but, you know, the show, not the man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is goaded. Even, like, you know, him's struggling to hang on is, honestly, part of the charm of enjoying the show. sometimes. But yeah, I just, like, it's, it's just, it's, and this, the, the story, it's like, what are you got? You've got an underdog showing up, unwanted, overcoming the odds. You've got, um, the heart of doing it through a higher purpose, which is to win back his mother's home. You've got the people's champ introducing the great unwashed to a very stuffy, upper crust sort of societal thing. You've got like a really lovely straightforward, uh, love interest. You've got like a,

you know, you've got multiple beats hanging off the one character that is so, there is no opportunity for deviation. They're spoon feeding us, like a very linear piece of storytelling, but it's, what is obvious to me on this watch as well, like as a, like,

fully grown adult now, that, um, not being a kid in watching this, or not being a teenager in watching this and knowing a little bit about storytelling. It's like really classical storytelling bits in there quite nakedly. It's the hero's journey completely.

Yeah, yeah. All of the beats. And that really struck me when they come back and the Leonard Skinner track plays again at the end of the film. It's like, yes, the hero has left. The hero has risked it all. The hero has changed forever. And then the hero has returned home changed. It's like it is fucking like a classic Greek epic.

Yeah. In a 90 minute Adam Sandler film. And it's 90 minutes. And all the characters are like, You know, your protagonist, Happy Gilma works so well because he is this highly flawed, well-meaning guy, but so highly flawed.

And the floor is hilarious that he just cannot. The first, like the first, stop himself from blowing up all the time. The first real world introduction of him. So you got your flashback, you've got the hockey trials. In the flashback,

by the way, another great lightings. He says, I said two records. Most time in the penalty of a box and I was the only person ever take off my skate and try and stab someone. So then you see him get rejected from the team.

blow up at the coach and then you see him going home and he's arriving home and his partner's leaving the kindergarten teacher yeah yeah and he's on it and he's the thing like and he's sort of you see the duality of Gilmore and the duality of Sandler I guess

the duality of man I would say it's a very classic playing out of the 90s I think version of what men were doing maybe in America in particular he goes you know what you're a lousy kindergarten teacher I see the fingerpities you brought me when they suck and he starts going away and he goes I'm sorry babe I didn't mean that

I think they're excellent finger paintings. Come back to me and I'll give you the old smoochy, smoothish. I'll make it all feel better. Yeah, it's so good. That leading to another classic comedy beat where he's just playing off himself. His now ex-giver just walked away while he's doing this to an intercom system trying to catch her as she leaves the apartment building outside. She's left, but now crowds are being drawn to Adam Seindler in turn cussing out his now ex-girlfriend

and then trying to make up with her. and this draws a older older woman who comes up and introduces yourself and then it's revealed to stay the night That's right Great comedy beat in the morning He gets a phone call he leaves

And as he's leaving And she yells like You don't want breakfast In one of his old jeezes And you think Happy Gilmore you dirty dog To touch on cameos So obviously we've talked about

Ben Stiller's uncredited cameo As the psychotic Rest-home worker It's interesting to reflect on that like, you know, Ben Stiller is not operating at the level of your carries, your Myers and your sandlers in this period. But he is still a very ascendant comedy star. But he's got a touch of the carries about him. He's afflicted with a seriousness that he wants to be.

Yeah. You know, as the arc of his career goes forward, you know, you sort of think of the post-Zoolander. In Tropic Thunder, it's like he's probably when he's marrying his serious ambition as a director. with like, you know, his unbelievable comedy ability. I mean, Tropic Thunder, I've watched for a long time, but I still remember as being a, like, laughing at it is like a seriously funny, kind of adult movie. You should watch it again for the simple reason.

I watched it maybe a couple years ago, and there's literally no other year that that movie could have been released than whenever it came out, which for memory was like 2010, I think. Yeah. It's like, it is, it could not either have been released, six months after when it came out. Yeah, yeah. And it's also just, it captured, I don't know,

chronologically lightning in a bottle in terms of like an exact cultural chemical cocktail that's just put into the film. Not for me to say, but I feel that the black community's embrace of Robert Downey Jr. doing Blackface for this specific role in this specific movie is kind of a tale of like, you know. It's sort of like a precursor to the source. sort of whole woke conversation that came after. It was like, that was almost a warning shot across the bow of like just a whole bunch

of hectic conversations that were about to unfold. Man alive. It's, yeah, yeah. Friends Ferdinand in the first shot that did, because the gun misfired from the assassin, that's Tropic Thunder of like the culture wars that we entered into thereafter. But Ben, you know, Ben Stiller's yearning to be taken seriously. as time goes on with Adam Sandler's total comfort within himself to just be like, you know,

and Stiller's gone to like severance obviously is, you know, he's entered a different realm of cerebral abilities. But, yeah, so you've got Ben Stiller uncredited cameo. You've got Joe Fladdy, who's like a sort of fringe comedy figure of the time who is the jackass, the jaring heggler. Oh, yeah.

So that was a role that was offered to Gilbert Gottfried. Oh! But he said no, because he thought the character was going to be overshadowed by the Bob Barker. happy Gilmore fight. Correctly assessed. Yeah, but he comes back. And so, you know, I quite like,

I think he was the right choice for Flaherty. I think he plays it really nice, like the neediness of being like, Shooter, you want to get lunch? We're going to be friends, right? Yeah, he just plays a crazy guy. You're right. Gilbert Godfrey, I don't want to see him desperate. I just want to see him crazy.

Yeah. I don't want to see him yearning for a friendship. Also, in the realm of cameos, you've got... Just while we're here on the camera. So Bob Barker, Didn't want to do it. And what changed his mind is when he found out that he wins the fight. The Price is Wrong.

And apparently it did huge, it gave a huge ratings boost for the Price is Right after the movie came out. Price is wrong. Price is wrong bitch is one of those, you know, playground slogans, which it didn't matter if you'd seen the movie or not. As a kid, that was, that was, that did the rounds for years off the back of this film. Can I say my favorite quote from this movie, which is like, it's, it's. I don't think I've come across much discourse about this. I might have brought it up on Mike before, but one of the most insane line reads I've come across

in all the movies I've ever seen is Julia Bowen. They're coming up the 18th Fairway. Joe, the aforementioned, you jackass, heckler is driving a car towards Happy. She sees it before Happy does and freaks out and goes, Happy Look out! And it's like, it's the,

the second half, it's the entirely made up syllable on outer. I'm always like, what, like, what? And I've not seen anyone else discuss this. I would love to talk to Julia about like, if that was the only way she delivered it, if she did a few different options. And that's like, because I'm sure if I did that, I'd be like, can we do that again? I just don't think that's how people talk. But it's in and it's legacy. That is like, honestly, in terms of line reads in this movie, that is the Tuesday's gone level of like embedded. Wow. That really does something to your synapses when you hear that.

You get triggered. Your Manchurian candidate like activation phrase is Julia adding an extra syllable to out. Happy look out. Other quoteable moments. Mr. Mr. Mr. Get me out here. You know that Mr. Mr. Lady. I think I just killed. Yeah.

But also you've got the other professional golfer who regretted his appearance. I'm just trying to remember his name. I wrote it down. Lee Trevino. He's the guy. Is he standing around and the green jackets? Yeah, he's like, he's always just off. And whenever anything crazy goes on, it cuts him.

He doesn't say anything. He just goes, the only line he has in the movie is Grizzly out. Oh, their guy. Is he a pro golfer? He's a pro golfer called Lee Trevino. So he is the model for the Simpsons game, the made-up game that exists in the Simpsons. Lee Carvello's putting challenge. Do you remember League Carvello's putting challenge?

You have selected. No. Yeah, you have selected. Would you like to play again? No, no. That's the bone crushing. We suggest putter. You've selected driver.

How hard would you like to hit it? We would suggest feather touch. You have selected Power Drive. That's right. So he had a game. He had a game in like the early days of like athlete sports. It was on a Nintendo console, I think. And it was called.

The NES probably. Lee Trevello's Fighting Golf And that was the model for the gag and the Simpsons Which was Lee Carvello's putting challenge Oh so good But he when he saw the foul language He regretted saying yes to the movie Because he's not just a cameo

Like he actually sort of is A bit of a motif Whenever I think like Happy does something wrong They sort of go to him looking shocked Yeah Yeah yeah man you can't do that at a golf tournament Yeah So he is sort of doing something in the film

even though he's only got one line. I think with an eye to like my comedic taste as they've grown and the performer in this movie who I was the most excited to reunite with and who I've probably grown to love the most, Kevin Neeland. Who does he play in this? Gary Potter. So he is Happy Gilmore's partner.

And this is also, this is Playground Quote stuff. He is Happy's partner at the AT&T. golf tournament. The cadet. You got a lot, no, you guys. Oh, yes. You go, you got good energy. It's energy.

You got to let it flow. Let it come through. It's positive. Okay. It's a carousel. You go on. You ride the horse up. You ride it down.

You're going round and round. That's good. That's good energy. Yeah, yeah. And he goes, you know, and the bit that really gets quoted is he goes, the ball wants to go home. It's got its bags back.

It's at the airport. Send it home. Send it home. Send the ball home. Uh, but the quote I wrote down, which I got the most mileage out of us when he makes a put and starts riding around. He starts riding around as part of like the bull.

And he goes, doing the bull dance, feeling the flow, working it, working it. He's saying it to his catty. Kevin Nealon has gone on to, like he was a weekend update anchor on SNL. He put out a special on 800 pound gorilla on YouTube, which was, the name currently is case which was like one of the funniest ones I've watched in the last six months. but I think in the all-time pantheon of comedy output that I've probably enjoyed and revisited the most in the last three years,

he has three episodes on Conan O'Brien needs a friend in which he is like purely there to derail any conversational offering that Conan puts on the table and it's like honestly it's it's it's like watching shadow boxing it is it is pure magic. If you are interested in listening to these I recommend the first one was during COVID so in the early 2020s I recommend listen to them sequentially.

He also has a fantastic show on YouTube called Hiking with Kevin. But I've really grown to love his comedic style and voice and like his just comedic persona. Like you can really spend a lot of time. Future spelling be guest? He's way too famous. Get him.

I love him so much. His performance in this is absolutely fantastic. And I just want to, I just want to big up, Kevin Nealyn and say if you haven't if you haven't fallen down the the YouTube whole of Kevin Neeland you've got a lot to look forward to and he's fucking great in this movie what else do we want to say about Happy Gilmore this is this is the absolute pinnacle of Sandler this is Samner this is like the pinnacle I don't know if this I don't know if they'd started Happy Madison

no they can't well they can't happy Madison must be in the wake of yeah this is yeah like as far as self-created output goes this is um This is tip top for me. This is tip top. This is a five-star comedy movie. This is absolutely outstanding. There's some other quotes. I'm sorry, like, I just have to get some of my other favorite moments down there.

He, what have we got here? I love the delivery on when he's, like, begging Chubbs to take him back. This is actually a Carl Weathers laugh at him. He goes, I'm stupid, you're smart. and I've always remembered this lead in but the delivery he goes I was wrong you were right you're the best I'm the worst

you're very good looking I'm not attractive and then Carl Weathers just goes alright as long as you're willing to admit that which is so funny to accept all of it that was the thing

I wanted to make sure also there's an interesting like at the end of the tournament fight like also funniest line happy publicizers he needs to stand the tour he's going to kick off the tour for fighting with Bob Barker

but he says I need to and Doug the head of the tour goes well we need him you're going to get suspended for a tournament but you know our ratings have never been higher and he goes I need to play in the next tournament I need to raise enough money to win my grandma's house back at auction because it's going to go to any so he to earn enough money

and then shooter learns about this he shows up at the auction he buys it from under Happy and the final bet is like well if I beat you at the champions. For $350,000, by the way. And the IRS were only on the hook for 175. Yeah, so he's out bit of me. He's an asshole.

He's a real piece of shit. Great quote on the way. Like, probably one of the most famous quotes from the movie. He goes, oh, this is going to be great. I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast. You eat shit for breakfast? You eat a piece of shit from breakfast? Because that's not what I eat.

No. Anyway, it's just, yeah, it's just great. It's a great movie. I haven't seen the sequel. Inspired me to check it out. We're going to have to. Well, I mean, I don't know where to go next. What do you think?

I reckon we should watch the sequel now. I think we should watch Happy Gilmore, too. That is one of the tidiest ways of measuring the man we grow up with with the man we know today. I think you're right. I'm actually, and I'm looking forward to it. Are you? I am. I think.

I'm so nervous. Well, look, I'm not nervous because the stakes aren't that high, but I think it's going to be bad. Let me say this. I think it's going to be bad. I think it's going to be not as good, but I don't think it's going to be bad in the way that some of the other stuff is. but yeah I mean this is like this this delivered in every way I hoped it would this is this was the movie I remembered I haven't even mentioned how I watched this have I I told you briefly before we got on the record I forgot we were doing a podcast record today

I got a text I got a message from guy that I think guys sent at about nine o'clock at night last night saying this movie rocks and I went huh and I looked at my calendar and I went because I read that message when I woke up in the middle of the night at 3 in the morning and I went well I guess I'm renting and watching Happy Gilmore right now then so I've been awake since so I watched the movie at 3 and then it was like almost 5 a.m and I was like well the the kid's going to be up in an hour so I guess I'm just up now oh oh god in the end the movie sailed through all of like it you know it doesn't matter yeah that's how good that's how good happy Gilmore is.

It's amazing that that is purely a footnote. I mean, yeah, this is five golf balls out of five. This, like, yeah. I mean, like, perhaps not outside of the context of the podcast, like, perhaps not in the totality of what sort of what I look for in a movie now, but, like, everything that's going for this movie that I remembered checks out. I think the reason you're putting a little caveat on this is we really, talking this movie up hugely.

I think people could hear what we're saying and then watch Happy Gilmore and be like Tim and Guy are fucking crazy. I'll be fascinated. But the thing is, is you've got to understand that we are 38 years old men. Yeah.

And for 38 year old dudes in the English-speaking world, I think this film almost inevitably occupies, even if you didn't see it, like the quotes, just by osmosis, you have experience.

parts of this film in your childhood. Yeah, and one final thing, there's a difference in grown-ups too with the way they go to Kmart. By the way, Kmart is getting AI bots to interview people who want holiday work. What did you mean by that? Temp workers. Yeah. Great. Cool.

But like the delicacy with which they did the product placement still. Hold on. Sorry. Still. No, hold on. No, no, no. That's a different conversation. It's not relevant.

Why did you bring it up? Because I said Kmart. The way that they do the subway, so when he gets kicked off the tour and he still needs to make money, he's like, and he's in a subway with his romantic interest and he's like, oh, we've got nothing to look forward to except this delicious, fresh, toasted, and then it transitions to him in an ad saying the same thing. And I was like, that is, that is a classy way of incorporating products, different from getting four characters to show up in a fucking massive, you know, Kmart and just hang out for 20 minutes of improv. Well, you would have to say the absolute like low point of it was the Duncan Donuts. Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill. Shit, what's his name?

Al Pacino. Al Pacino. Is it a song that he does? I can't remember. We saw it for the podcast a while ago and I can't remember the contours of it. But it felt like a fucking, both a fever dream and also just like, I know, to my knowledge, Pacino doesn't have dementia. but it was kind of like laughing.

I hope not. He's got a new baby. I forgot that. You're right. But it is like, it felt like laughing at a great who is now very old and has dementia. That's what watching that scene looked like. Yeah. And Jack and Jack.

It was like so painful to watch. Yeah. Anyway, lovely to end on that note. It's nice to be up amongst the stars. You know? This one was burning, oh so bright. All downhill from here. But as I say, this whole experience is in the spa pool or in the sauna ahead of what I'm going to now frame as the big workout.

If you think of us as swinging from star to star or planet to planet, I mean, it's only been four swings. And think about how far in the rear view mirror a fucking daddy daughter trip is. Like, what a breath of fresh air. Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Dennis. If there's anything you ever listen to in which we talk about you, please let it be. this we'll see you at the conclusion of our watch of happy Gilmore too