Almost 30 years in the making, one of the best sports movies ever is getting a sequel with the highly anticipated release of Happy Gilmore 2.
Please just let it be decent, it doesn’t have to be an all time great like the first one, but give us a few solid laughs as Adam Sandler acts like a buffoon for our enjoyment.
It’s all we ask of it and the trailer has enough in it to offer some hope.
But every movie goer has been let down by a trailer before.
Sports movies have been massively hit and miss with some all time classics like Happy Gilmore and some major misses too.
Let’s run through some of the best.
Happy Gilmore
Where do you start with this one, released in 1996 it created a surge in popularity for golf (along with the rise of Tiger Woods who should get some credit for that).
Just about everyone who has been to a driving range has tried that famous swing and never connected the way they had hoped, even Woods himself had a go.
Pro Tip: Don’t try that swing with a putter.
But on top of the golf, it also spawned some of the best one liners of the 90’s.
“Just taaaaaaap it in.”
“It’s all in the hips.”
“Are you too good for your home? Answer me!”
“You’re going to die clown!”
“You eat pieces of shit for breakfast?”
And of course the famous Bob Barker fight.
There’s something for everyone.
Caddyshack
Not one but two golf entries on this list with another classic comedy from the 1980’s.
With a star studded cast featuring Bill Murray’s hilarious role as the groundskeeper, you can’t help but laugh.
Sure some jokes (or bad Irish accents) don’t hold up nearly 40 years later but you’ll enjoy this one whenever it comes on the tv.
Slap Shot
Happy Gilmore’s first love was hockey and he probably would have fit in perfectly with the Charlestown Chiefs, especially on a line with the Hanson brothers.
It perfectly sums up the primary appeal of ice hockey, violence, violence and more violence.
Sure there is a bit of skill involved but we all love to see a bunch of Canadians and Eastern Europeans missing teeth running into each other at high speed.
Dodgeball
Just like Christopher McDonald stole the show as the obnoxious villain in Happy Gilmore, Ben Stiller’s White Goodman is potentially the most memorable part of this comedy classic.
Well that and Lance Armstrong’s cameo where he talks about the mental resilience (and nothing else) he needed to win the Tour de France.
There are still social sport teams going around with the Average Joes, the Cobras and more.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
“If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
Will Ferrell takes the lead as a stereotypically sponsor clad NASCAR driver going through the highs and lows of his career.
We could just list some classic quotes from this one or just go watch the movie again and relive them as they were intended to be delivered.
There is plenty of competition from the likes of Anchorman but this could be Ferrell’s best performance.
Baseketball
The guys who make South Park have been in the news for other reasons, but their 1997 sports parody movie never got the recognition it truly deserved.
Joe Cooper and Doug Reemer are high school friends whose sole athletic talents are the ability to hit an uncontested jump shot and heckle their opponents mercilessly.
Their driveway game becomes a national sport and it gives us one of the most underrated movies going around.
Major League
It really is a plot that could only exist in a movie, the rich team owner’s trophy wife takes over after his passing.
Except she’s got a nefarious business plan, tank the team to lower attendances so she can move them from Cleveland to the much warmer climate in Florida.
Another classic sports comedy that still by and large holds up after over three decades.
A League of Their Own
Taking a turn away from the comedies for a slightly more serious tone, A League of Their Own is an excellent movie about baseball during World War 2.
Not only did it spawn Tom Hanks’ “There’s no crying in baseball” line but it was also one of if not the best performances of Madonna’s acting career.
Admittedly it’s not that hard to beat her cameo as a fencing instructor in Die Another Day.
The Longest Yard (Either Version)
Take your pick, they both work.
The Burt Reynolds one.
Or the Adam Sandler remake.
Two different versions of the same story, plenty of star power and some good laughs.
Remember the Titans
This one tackles more themes than just a new coach taking over a dominant high school program and boy does it nail it.
Denzel Washington has some excellent monologues and carries the movie superbly.
Any Given Sunday
Glitz, glamour, drama and distractions.
Basically sums up the life of being an NFL player without actually mentioning the NFL.
Friday Night Lights
Is the movie better than the tv show or does the tv show win out?
Personally the movie was far and away more appealing but it’s an each to their own and a topic of many debates in the Neds office.
Hoosiers
After finding out some of the home truths behind the inspiration for this movie, it does get a little bit tougher to enjoy but the movie on its own is pretty good.
Although it does walk a fine line between cheesy an inspirational.
If you change one or two lines you go from an Oscar winning performance by Sandra Bullock to a Hallmark Movie of the Week that would be beneath an actress of her calibre.
Hoosiers
There are few more impactful scenes than Gene Hackman measuring out the dimensions of the court.
Goosebumps, every time.
Rocky
This movie was never getting left off the list.
If you haven’t seen it by now you are missing out.
It might also explain why every day in Philadelphia tourists and locals alike run up those stairs and hold the pose.
Senna
Ayrton Senna might have been the greatest open wheel race car driver of all time and this documentary on his life might be the best pure racing movie ever.
F1
Perhaps there is some recency bias in this entry but the F1 movie, co-produced by the likes of Lewis Hamilton is a great watch.
Are there some liberties taken with reality? Of course but there are in just about every movie.
Sit back, enjoy it and don’t overthink it.
Cool Runnings
“Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, its bobsled time!”
Need we say any more?
Bend it Like Beckham
As much a buddy movie as it is a sports movie.
This one doesn’t have huge stakes focused about junior football clubs in the UK but it also served as an introduction to Kiera Knightly for those that didn’t see the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.