History Film / HappyGilmore

** Virginia gives two in quick succession after Shooter buys Happy's grandmother's house at the auction. Happy to tell her that hockey's his sport. Virginia gives him a much needed reality check and asks him, "Oh really? What team did you play for?" Happy can only reply with a simple, "Easy!" Then she asks, "What do you think Grandma wants more: to get her house back, or to see her grandson succeed?" This prompts Happy to make an all-or-nothing bet with Shooter, as he'll either get Grandma's house back and be champion or lose it all.

* BareYourMidriff: Happy's girlfriend Terry at the beginning of the movie, as it's ex-girlfriend after she leaves.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Virginia asks Happy "What do you think Grandma wants more: to get her house back, or to see her grandson succeed?" This prompts Happy to make an all-or-nothing bet with Shooter, as he'll either get Grandma's house back and be champion or lose it all.
** Also, when a distraught Happy is about to give up golfing altogether and proclaims, "I don't belong here. I'm a hockey player," Virginia gives him a much needed reality check and asks him, "Oh really? What team did you play for?" This stops Happy dead in his tracks.

* TrainingFromHell: Happy goes through this twice — first, when he stands in a batting cage and gets pelted with baseballs to toughen himself up, and later he has to learn how to putt at a very gaudy mini-golf course. He preferred the former ("God, I love it!") to the latter.

** Played with in Happy's case. He starts out as a downplayed example, mainly because his hockey career is going nowhere. By the end of the film, he's taken a liking to golf and has become a subversion.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Downplayed. Happy has a 400 yard drive, where in real golf a 300 yard drive is usually considered to be great. Indeed, everyone in-universe who sees it for the first time can't believe their eyes, and it quickly becomes part of what makes Happy popular to watch. Shooter offhandedly says to Larson that having such range in one shot isn't possible, yet incidentally, there ''are'' golfers that [[RealityIsUnrealistic can drive over 400 yards, especially with modern equipment]], although it is uncommon. In fact, the Guiness Book of World Records holder set a record of 515 yards in 1974 as a 64 year old.

** In the immediate aftermath of being hit by a car, Happy starts hitting the ball all over the place. One shot lands in some nasty rough. Happy attempts to go to his "happy place", only to have Shooter show up in the fantasy, and begin making out with Virginia and Grandma. This angers Happy, who takes five whacks at the ball before finally making contact, and knocking it into the water hazard right in front of him. He somehow loses only one stroke. In real life, all of those hacks at the ball would've counted as strokes since Happy was trying to hit the ball, then add in a two-stroke penalty for the ball ending up in the water.

* ShoutOut: The fictional golf association in the movie has a major tournament that awards a Gold Jacket, as opposed to the real-life Green Jacket awarded at The Masters. This is alluded to when Happy first hears about it, retorting to Chubbs "Gold Jacket, Green Jacket, who gives a shit?"

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In-universe example when Happy is suspended for fighting with Bob Barker instead of getting removed from the tour. The ruling board makes this decision based on the huge ratings Happy is giving the PGA.

* CharacterOverlap: Creator/BenStiller goes on to play the orderly, Hal, again in ''Film/HubieHalloween''.

* CriticalResearchFailure: InUniverse. Shooter says that the chances of Happy beating him in the tour championship are as likely as Grizzly Adams having a beard. Lee Trevino promptly reminds Shooter that "Grizzly Adams ''did'' have a beard".

* ProductPlacement:

** Played with Mr. Larson--played by Creator/RichardKiel (aka Jaws from ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' and ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''). When we first meet him, he's brooding and intimidating and beats Happy so bad he's sent to the ER (after Happy had embedded a nail in his head with a fired nail gun). When Happy starts being a pro-golfer, however, he becomes one of Happy's most loyal fans. As his shirt says, guns don't kill people--''he'' does.

While trying to figure out how to translate this power shot into some quick cash, Happy soon meets retired professional golfer Chubbs Peterson, who sees potential in Happy to go pro if he puts in the effort to learn the game. Although Happy initially isn't interested, when Chubbs mentions that there's money to be made from ranking in the tournaments, Happy decides to make a go of it and win enough prize money to buy back his grandmother's house before the bank auctions it off. HilarityEnsues as Happy brings his wild hockey antics with him to the golf course and becomes an up-and-coming sensation for his standout skill combined with his crude behavior. In the process, he takes a shine to Virginia, a public relations director for the tour, and makes an ArchEnemy out of Shooter [=McGavin=], one of the top players of the league who isn't keen on letting a foul-mouthed, hot-headed rookie steal his spotlight.

** Happy's is {{wrath}}. While his HairTriggerTemper and tendency to hold grudges means that he gets some strong determination, it also means that he can fly off the handle and make an already bad situation even worse. This almost gets Happy kicked off the pro tour as soon as he gets on; he's only saved by Virginia arguing on his behalf, and even she admits that Happy's behavior is "completely unacceptable" before getting him to tone it down. Shooter even invokes a BatmanGambit to make Happy fly off the handle at exactly the wrong moment, getting Happy suspended right when he was about to earn enough money to buy his grandmother's house back.
** Shooter suffers from a bad combination of {{Pride}} and envy. He can't stand someone like Happy being better than him, and so he tries to sabotage him any chance he gets. He is also quick to put down total strangers, earning him the wrath of Mr. Larson. [[spoiler: In the climax, he commits the very serious faux pas of stealing Happy's jacket, which gets him a bad beating from Larson and Happy's fans]].

** After changing his behavior and following the rules, Happy ends up getting into a fight with Bob Barker, his partner in a celebrity golf tournament. While the ruling board is lenient because of how much Happy has done for them, they still fine him $25,000 and suspend him for a month.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: In the prologue, we learn that Happy got into a fight with his boss, Mr. Larson. Happy feels like "I won the fight" (despite being the one who ended up in the ER) and when they meet later, Mr. Larson is one of his fans [[spoiler: and beats the crap out of Shooter on Happy's behalf.]]
* DestinationDefenestration: Happy knocks some people out of windows in anger. The first one is the IRA agent who repossesses Grandma's house, and the second is the orderly at the nursing home who's been mistreating her.

--> '''Shooter:''' Where did he finish again? Dead last? Yeah, he had a good day.

** Played with in Happy's case. He starts out as a downplayed example, but he becomes a subversion by the end of the film.

** Also Joe Flaherty's character Donald, the fan hired by Shooter to annoy Happy ("Jackass!"). Along with being a JerkAss, he also runs into Happy with his car. He's last seen fleeing the golf course with security in pursuit, but we never find out his fate. In a deleted scene before this during the championship game, Happy calls him out on his insults and forces him to take a shot. He fails horribly. Considering a part of him caught on fire briefly any potential burns he suffers that scar him permanently is a good karmic kick.

* JerkJock: Shooter [=McGavin=] is obnoxious and arrogant and looks down on Happy for being new. He's like the stereotypical high school jock that went professional. As such he's smug, arrogant, rude, and can't take losing from a never-been hockey player who beat him at his own game.

** After changing his behavior and following the rules, Happy ends up getting into a fight with Bob Barker, his partner in a celebrity golf tournament. While the ruling board is lenient because of how much Happy has done for them, he's still fined and suspended for a month.

* AdultFear: While it's exaggerated and PlayedForLaughs, the idea of elder abuse being inflicted on a loved one without you knowing is both pretty harrowing and quite believable.