Happy Gilmore (1996) vs. The Waterboy (1998)

Which one do you like better? Feel free to share your opinions.

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Like em both, but Happy Gilmore has Jaws, Apollo Creed and Bob Barker.


Neither of them is in consideration for the 90s countdown though.

Happy Gilmore in an easy one for me. Waterboy is still good though.

I prefer Happy Gilmore, but if the truth be told, Mr Deeds is my favorite Sandler comedy

Happy didn't do a lot for me, but Waterboy was just ridiculous and fun, saw it at the theater with my brother and his wife, and we all laughed at the dumb thing and left in good spirits.

Of his, The Wedding Singer would be my favorite (I actually don't like most Sandler comedies)

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Happy Gilmore.

But like so many stupid comedies, it's all about when you see it. In my case, my family was traveling with my dad for some work trip thing, and we were all crammed in some small hotel room and at the mercy of whatever Pay Per View films were available, so we threw that one on and all laughed like idiots together.

No amount of cinematic critique can withstand such potent personal experience. That's apple-cider-after-sledding levels of wholesome, conveniently eliding the whole "Bob Barker says 'bitch'" part.

I actually kinda wonder if most people are bound to like one (if any) stupid Sandler comedy and it's just about whichever you run into first, and after that it kinda wears thin. Because I know a lot of people who prefer, for example, Billy Madison, which I can take or leave, and I can't help but think it's because it came out before.

I have never been able to tolerate Adam Sandler's comedies. I found his short bits at the Update desk during his "SNL" tenure to be amusing enough, and there is no denying the seasonal fun of "The Chanukah Song". But his movies are chores for me. I am a suburban white dude and was twenty-five when Billy Madison premiered, so ostensibly I should be in the target demographic. But I just can't. I don't mind him in his more dramatic turns in non-Happy Madison productions, things like Punch-Drunk Love, Uncut Gems, Hustle, Funny People, and Reign Over Me, and I am well aware of and definitely do appreciate the fact that off-screen he is clearly a very generous fella and an extremely loyal friend and professional. I just can't stand his movies.

But I have been appropriately cursed: my wife loves movies by The Sandman and she cannot stand the Bill Murray movies I love. So there ya go.

If forced to choose between The Water Boy and Happy Gilmore, I suppose I'd take Happy. But if those were the only two things on - and my wife wasn't around - I would turn the TV off.

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Happy Gilmore makes the 90s countdown redux or we riot!

I would be surprised if it makes it on the list

I'm like you. I find Sandler's comedy a bit silly but yeah, The Wedding Singer has some memorable moments.

Linda wearing the VH tee, he says " take off the shirt before the band breaks up".

His nephew repeating what he hears from adults, " Hey Linda, you're a b*tch!"

For what it is worth, when we compiled the MoFo Top 100 Comedies a couple years back, Happy Gilmore was the one and only Adam Sandler movie to crack the list. Just one, to my surprise and my delight, as I was afraid there would be a rash of them. It placed at #64. The groupthink consensus at that moment in the site's voting history deemed it was THE Adam Sandler comedy.

There were two '90s movies in the Top Ten of that list with Groundhog Day at number seven and The Big Lebowski taking the number one spot. There were two more 1990s comedies in the Top 20 with Galaxy Quest (#14) and Office Space (#18). But in general, just like with the Academy Awards that most of you say you despise, comedies do not do especially well on these decade lists. Happy Gilmore may sneak onto the upcoming 1990s redux near the bottom, but it is more likely that it will not.

We shall see.

The Waterboy was offensive on many levels. Henry Winkler is amazing in everything he's in though. But that's all I remember liking.


Happy Gilmore was absurd insanity. No depth, but it was fun. Wedding Singer was better.

I dislike both of these films and will never watch either again, but if I had to choose, Happy Gilmore was maybe slightly less terrible. Though I almost voted for The Waterboy because at least it had Fairuza Balk (yowza!) and Henry Winkler.
Yeah, actually maybe I should change my vote if that's possible. I'm trying to remember what HG could possibly have had better than that.

I definitely thought Billy Madison was better than either Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy. Perhaps he had not yet learned how low he could take comedy and people would still pay for it. He certainly opened my eyes.
But I would say the only good "Adam Sandler Movie" (meaning not PDL or Uncut Gems or whatever but his usual schtick) was The Wedding Singer.

Well, Adam Sandler films certainly seem to be polarizing. As for me, I've enjoyed pretty much all of his comedy films (I haven't seen the animated Eight Crazy Nights (2002)) and Happy Gilmore is fairly tops for me, due to its unrelenting laughs and dialogue.

I like Water Boy because it's totally absurd but funny. Yeah, he's playing a Cajun, but as I'm half-Cajun and most of my family on the coast is full Cajun, I can tell you he's not really playing a Cajun, just a caricature of one. Therefore I don't take offense at his portrayal because it's just a broad parody. I, too, loved Henry Winkler in that movie. He almost stole the show for me.

The Wedding Singer is lots of fun. I like Sandler and Drew Barrymore together. Her alone I don't like as much (sorry honeykid!).

Mr. Deeds Lots of critics trashed it for daring to remake the classic Frank Capra/Gary Cooper film---well, it's not a straight-up remake. They just took the premise of an ordinary guy inheriting millions and then went their own way. And it was lots of fun. My favorite scene was the airplane flight to New York where Sandler breaks into David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and gets the whole plane singing (except for uptight Peter Gallagher).

I like Billy Madison, The Longest Yard and Big Daddy on a slightly lesser level than the above films. Haven't seen Little Nicky or Jack and Jill and have no intention to.

I liked the first Murder Mystery with Sandler and Jennifer Aniston but have yet to see the second one. I haven't seen any of his dramatic roles but need to. Then there are various other comedies that I've forgotten but on the whole, I like Adam Sandler films quite a bit and always give him a shot.

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