Happy Gilmore

Seven minutes into "Happy Gilmore 2", it's confirmed (by Ken Jennings, of all people): Happy is Jewish. Now, those with good memory recall that Adam Sandler himself said so in Part II of his Chanukah Song, which dates all the way back to 1999. And yet, to hear it from the host of Jeopardy...

(Before we get any further, please allow us this personal aside. While product placement is something to be expected from a Sandler movie — hell, the original stops to give you a Subway ad — there is one particular sponsor here that grinds our gears. There is a certain company — we will not name it here — which chooses to spend millions on flighty advertising after firing thousands of its employees. A disgusting, pathetic, flaccid company that once had an executive expense a first class airplane seat for... his cat. Again, we will not name it here.)

But if Happy is Jewish, why does he have such a goyishe name? (And we're not talking about the "Happy" part, although that is certainly as far from Jewish as one can get.) Well, plenty of Jews have goyishe last names. Take a look at Frances Bay, who played Happy's beloved grandma. Her maiden name was Goffman, but it got goyified after marriage. Perhaps that was the case here as well.

Is the sequel worth your time? If you liked the original, sure. If not... well, you're not watching this in the first place, are you? (Unless you're here for the 50 cameos, including the most underappreciated thespian of all time? No, not Steve Buscemi. Regular readers know who we're talking about.)

At the end, we gotta hand it to Sandler: he rides the Jew angle strong, movie after movie. At this point, we're pretty sure that every character he's ever played was Jewish... Except perhaps Billy Madison?

We'll await that sequel?

Verdict: **Jew**.

_July 28, 2025_