Let’s face it, if you’ve ever attempted the “Happy swing” at a driving range, yelled “The price is wrong!” mid-round, or cheered for a total long shot in any sport, you’re living proof that Happy Gilmore left its mark. Adam Sandler’s blend of unfiltered rage, heart, and ridiculous humor set a new standard for sports comedies where underdogs triumph, chaos reigns, and even golf can be cool. So pick up your clubs, helmets, or dodgeballs. These are ten sports comedies that have the wild, lovable essence of Happy Gilmore.
10. The Longest Yard
Sandler’s reworking of the 1974 cult favorite strikes all the right chords, half redemption tale, half slapstick bedlam. As the disgraced quarterback Paul Crewe, he mobilizes a motley crew of prisoners to take on the prison guards in a rugged football game. It’s rough, rowdy, and unexpectedly poignant, with just enough classic Sandler ire to keep it lively. The payoff: a comeback story that both has the laughs and the heart”.
9. Kingpin
Bowling collides with madness in Kingpin, a Farrelly brothers classic that makes gutter balls pay. Woody Harrelson plays Roy Munson, a washed-up bowler with a hook for a hand who coaches an Amish whiz kid for a chance at redemption (and a fat payday). The patty-cake gags, sight gags, and outright insanity feel borrowed from Sandler’s universe, and Bill Murray’s tawdry opponent Ernie McCracken steals every moment he gets.
8. Major League
This underdog comedy baseball film serves up every element of a fine underdog tale: low expectations, a misfit team, and a miraculous turnaround. Major League tracks the Cleveland Indians (now known as the Guardians) as they overcome ownership’s strategy to fail spectacularly. Amidst Charlie Sheen’s “Wild Thing” fastballing and Wesley Snipes’ cocky speedster hijinks, it preserves that same frenetic underdog euphoria that helped make Happy Gilmore a cult favorite.
7. Goon
Replace golf clubs with hockey sticks and you have Goon, a completely goofy, hard-rocking tale of Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott), a gentle soul with a talent for punching guys on ice. The film’s blend of gross-out humor and unexpected niceness emulates Sandler’s go-to formula: an endearing misfit finding his place through sheer willpower (and a few busted noses). It’s tough, sentimental, and loaded with that same rough-around-the-edges charm.
6. Caddyshack
Long before Happy Gilmore came along and made golf cool by being, well, rebellious, Caddyshack flipped it on its head. Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray star in this raucous comedy that happily mocks country club elitism. Murray’s gopher-slaying groundskeeper alone is comedy gold. If Happy Gilmore inspired you to smash golf balls in rage, we have Caddyshack to thank for learning to make fun of it first.
5. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Few films capture the absurd sporting fervor of Happy Gilmore as well as Dodgeball. Vince Vaughn’s Average Joe’s Gym battles Ben Stiller’s over-the-top bad guy White Goodman for control of a tournament that gets gym class bedlam and turns it into a matter of life and death. From goofy training sequences to the indelible “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball,” this is all underdog pandemonium with a great balance of ridiculousness and victory.
4. Mr. Deeds
In Mr. Deeds, Sandler stars as a small-town lad who overnight inherits a huge corporate empire and a whole bunch of big-city nonsense. His combination of naive charm and righteously indignant rage is quintessential Sandler. Between John Turturro’s conniving butler Emilio (“Very sneaky, sir”) and the infamous frostbitten foot gag, Mr. Deeds gets that combination of heart and humor that made Happy Gilmore unforgettable.
3. The Waterboy
Nobody portrays a misunderstood misfit as nicely as Sandler, and The Waterboy is perhaps his most charming one. Bobby Boucher’s transformation from bullied team sidekick to unstoppable gridiron hero is sports comedy gold. The movie’s slapstick brutality, strangely sentimental romance, and infinite quotables (“You can do it!”) make it the ultimate celebration of the underdog. Like Happy Gilmore, it converts rage into success and laughs all the way to the finish line.
2. Grown Ups
Though not a classic sports film, Grown Ups is all about friendship, rivalry, and nostalgia, the three things Sandler is best at. Back with his comedy gang (Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider), Sandler gives us a warm, feel-good hangout flick full of garden games, father jokes, and all-around warm-heartedness. It’s a party to growing old, but never really up the sort of energy Happy would absolutely endorse.
1. Happy Gilmore
And here’s the one that started it all. Happy Gilmore still stands as the gold standard for sports comedies, expertly balancing rage, absurdity, and emotion. Adam Sandler’s hockey-player-turned-golfer battles golf’s snootiest thugs and manages to make the sport fun for everyone. Between Bob Barker’s infamous fight and the “Happy swing” witnessed at every driving range, it’s the greatest reminder that sports, and life, are better when you play your own way.
What ties together all of these movies isn’t sports or slapstick, it’s the underdog spirit that misfits can triumph, that rules are there to be broken, and heart will always conquer hype. Whether it’s a barroom brawl on the links or a dodgeball in the kisser, these films demonstrate that the Happy Gilmore spirit, half anarchy, half bravery, all humor, is flourishing on every sporting ground.