Happy Gilmore is one of Adam Sandler’s best comedy movies, but despite its quality, its Rotten Tomatoes score highlights a problem that has plagued his entire career. For much of his time in the film industry, Adam Sandler has been mainly associated with comedy, and for good reason. Sandler embodied several great characters in movies like Billy Madison and Big Daddy, among many others, during the 1990s and 2000s. Sandler has also had several great dramatic roles more recently with movies like Reign Over Me and Uncut Gems, but some of the problems with the way his earlier works were received still haven’t been addressed.
Happy Gilmore is often considered one of Sandler’s best movies in the 1990s, and it’s largely because of how funny the film is. From Carl Weathers’ iconic role as Chubbs to Sandler’s fight with Bob Barker, Happy Gilmore has more than a few laugh-out-loud moments. It was even popular enough to spawn a sequel, Happy Gilmore 2, which is currently in development. Despite how many people have enjoyed Happy Gilmore, though, it also highlights a dark trend in Sandler’s career.
Despite being one of Sandler’s best comedies, Happy Gilmore only has a critic score of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics who gave it a bad review claimed it was “lowbrow” and unintelligent humor, or simply that Sandler just wasn’t funny. Its score suggests it was an average comedy movie, which simply isn’t the case. Happy Gilmore delivers countless, consistent laughs, and cemented itself as one of Sandler’s best comedies, meaning it earned far more than its 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, Happy Gilmore also isn’t an outlier, and it speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding critics have had about Sandler’s comedies for years now.
Like Happy Gilmore, many of Sandler’s most beloved comedies have also received negative reviews. Sandler’s highest-rated early comedy is The Wedding Singer, which only earned 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, while many more of his early comedies fell well below the “rotten” threshold. A notable detail for many of his movies is that the audience score is often much higher than the critics’ assessment of his films, which speaks to an important part of Sandler’s career. His comedies may not be loved by critics, but general audiences often find them hilarious.
Sandler’s recent experiments in comedy, like Jack & Jill and Grown Ups might have deserved their lower rankings, but his early work certainly didn’t. His earlier movies like Happy Gilmore were staples of the comedy genre for a reason: they’re just funny. Sandler knows how to make as many people as possible laugh. While the broad appeal of his earlier work might not sit well with critics, that doesn’t detract from the fact that he often created hilarious movies. Because they’re so widely beloved, much of the criticism Happy Gilmore and other Sandler movies received seems to stem from a sense of pretentiousness rather than good-faith critique.
Adam Sandler has battled critics throughout his career in both his comedic and dramatic projects. The fact that one of his greatest projects, Happy Gilmore, was bashed by critics proves it. However, Happy Gilmore also proves a much more important fact about his career: no matter how poorly Sandler’s movies are received, he has a dedicated and large audience that thoroughly enjoys his work. Adam Sandler may not have fully won over critics yet, but his movies, like Happy Gilmore, have certainly won over many viewers.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes