"Happy Gilmore 2," "Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan" and "Zarna Garg: One in a Billion:" My Movie Picks and Pans for July 2025

[I review "Happy Gilmore 2," the documentary "Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan" and Zarna Garg's comedy stand-up "One in a Billion"]

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

First there was "Happy Gilmore."  Now here he is again 29 years later.

Okay, since you know I hate sequels (except "The Godfather Part II), you may be wondering, "Rosy, why are you reviewing a sequel to "Happy Gilmore?"  Well, my peeps, I didn't see the first one, so in a way this isn't really a sequel for me.  I don't have anything to compare it with.  I am seeing it with new eyes.  And since "Happy Gilmore 2" is currently the #1 watched movie on Netflix right now and Adam Sandler has been on every talk show on the planet hyping this movie, I thought I had better do my due diligence and take a look.

So if you saw the first one, you know that Happy started out playing hockey but despite his powerful slapshot, his temper and poor skating ability limited his career.  But then he discovered golf where his slapshot came in handy and he went on to win his first Tour Championship in 1996. 

Now 29 years later, we learn that Happy went on to have a successful golf career winning five more championships.  He also had five children with wife Virginia (Julie Bowen), but sadly, tragedy has struck Happy.  Virginia is no longer with us, he has lost everything including his grandma's house (again), and he has become an alcoholic using a plethora of objects as flasks so he can stay "hydrated (my favorite is his drinking out of a cucumber)!" 

So Happy has quit golf and is now not so happy.

His kids Gordie (Maxwell Friedman), Wayne (Ethan Cutkosky), Bobby (Philip Schneider) and Terry (Conor Sherry) have moved out and are working to help support Happy and their sister Vienna (Sunny Sandler, Adam's real life daughter), who wants to go to ballet school in Paris.  The $75k per year cost is daunting to Happy, but then he is approached by Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie), the CEO of Maxi Energy Drink and whose bad breath is a recurring motif in the film. Manatee is starting a new golf league called Maxi Golf, a league that make golf more fun and exciting - kind of what Banana Baseball is to baseball.  Manatee wants Happy to be the league's star.  Happy declines but wanting to find the money to pay for Vienna to go to ballet school and with encouragement from his friend, John Daly (playing himself), he starts to clean himself up by joining a support group, "Alkies for Life," coincidentally run by his old arch nemesis, Hal (Ben Stiller). Happy works on his golf skills, gets his mojo back, and eventually joins the next Tour Championship where Maxi Golf is rising fast. Manatee challenges the Tour Championship golfers to a tournament - the top five Maxi Golf golfers vs. the top five old timers - and the film culminates in a no-holds barred golf-off.

There are ups and downs to Happy's return to golf including his struggles with alcohol and Maxi Golf turns out to be a bit dodgy. Will Happy be happy again?

Lots of golf action and cameos from real golf champs. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka (and his wife!) and Bryson DeChambeau make up Happy's team against Maxi Golf and Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and others also make appearances. There is even a spoof on Scottie Scheffler's real life arrest before last year's PGA Championship.

Acting and celebrity cameos also abound - Ben Stiller, Julie Bowen, Kevin Nealon, Christopher McDonald, and Dennis Dugan reprise their roles and everyone from Travis Kelce to Bad Bunny to Ken Jennings to SNL alums seem to be in this along with others - too many to mention. Even Adam Sandler's real life family members make appearances. It starts out being fun to try to spot who's who but as more and more celebrities crowd the film, it becomes exhausting and actually distracts from the story.

Written by Tim Herlihy and Sandler and directed by Kyle Newacheck, the first half of the film is actually quite sweet. However, in the second half of the film, the "shark jumped," if you know what I mean, and it just got too silly and went on too long.  And though there are clips from the first film to try to remind you of what happened and who some of the characters relate to Happy, some character relationships are unexplained this time around (not sure why Hal (Stiller) was Happy's arch nemesis or why Shooter McGavin (McDonald) was in a mental hospital - or frankly why he was in the movie - or why John Daly was living in Happy's garage), but you can mostly enjoy this film without having seen the original.  

Sandler is not the best actor in the world, but there is something endearing about him. He is so earnest and sincere in what he does that it shines through and makes you root for his character.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you enjoyed the first film, are an Adam Sandler fan or enjoy your golf with lots of hijinks, you might enjoy this, but if you don't like slapstick comedy and very broad humor (bare butts and bad breath and fart jokes abound) then, you might not.  But all in all, the film has some fun moments and a good message. It is all about rooting for the underdog, second chances and redemption.  It's upbeat and don't we need that right now? (Netflix)

Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan (2025)

What you didn't know about Ed Sullivan.

Okay, so you aren't sure you even know who Ed Sullivan was. "The Ed Sullivan Show" was the longest-running variety show in U.S. broadcast history.  On Sunday night, it featured singers, dancers, acrobats, puppets, you name it.  "America's Got Talent" is the closest thing we have to that today, but back in the 1950's and sixties, when there were few TV channels, most Americans - 35-50 million of them - all sat down at the same time to watch Ed Sullivan and then talk about it the next day.

Sullivan was the first to have Elvis on TV (though they only filmed him from the chest up - he wasn't called Elvis the Pelvis for nothing) as well as the Beatles.  I, of course, was a huge Beatles fan and the night they were on, my girlfriend, Linda, and I sat on the floor in front of the TV screaming along with the girls in the TV audience. My parents shook their heads.

Though there are some biographical elements in this documentary directed by the late Sacha Jenkins, this film is less about Sullivan's personal life and more about the impact "The Ed Sullivan Show" had on television history and civil rights, which I did not know about and you might not have known about either.

What I didn't know was that Sullivan broke the "color barrier" by featuring black artists on the show at a time when racial discrimination was still rampant.  Though the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, racism never really went away and few black artists ever appeared on TV.  Southern politicians wanted segregated TV shows. They did not want to see black performers on the same stage as white performers. But Sullivan had full control of who performed on his show and he went against sponsors and critics to showcase black talent. "The Ed Sullivan Show" was one of the first mainstream shows to do that.

Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder at 13, Nat King Cole, Nina Simone, James Brown, The Jackson 5, The Temptations and The Supremes all performed on the show and snippets of their performances are included in the documentary along with Belafonte, Smokey Robinson, Otis Williams and others weighing in on the influence this show had on American life.

Though Sullivan died in 1974, his voice is recreated as narrator and features his comments on racial issues over the years from his letters, articles and columns.

So why did Sullivan care so much?

Growing up in Port Chester, New York, in an Irish-American family, Sullivan played baseball and played against teams with black players.  He believed in integration from an early age, possibly because the Irish had also been through discrimination when they settled in America.  He recalls how some of his team mates did not want to play against black players, but he was taught "to respect the rights of the underdog."

"I always resented [those players that didn't want to play against black players] very deeply because the Irish had been through that...My parents knew these things were wrong, and they were not just broad-minded, but sensible."

So how did Sullivan, who started out as a newspaper sports writer end up hosting a TV show?

He was later assigned a newspaper Broadway column which led to his being the master of ceremonies for the Harvest Moon Ball, a famous New York amateur dance contest.  At the time, TV was new and someone was needed to host a Sunday night variety show - "The Toast of the Town" - which he did and that eventually became "The Ed Sullivan Show." 

Through a series of opportune events, Sullivan, an unlikely TV personality, became the host of the longest running variety show in TV history, one that gave opportunities to black performers who until then were not seen on TV. And that was not received well. There were protests about black performers appearing on the same show as white performers and Sullivan was told not to shake hands with the black performers or touch them. Sponsors were targeted. Hard to believe all of that was happening just 75 years ago. But Sullivan went against the protests and not only shook hands with black performers, he embraced them.

Belafonte, who appeared on the show 10 times, says that Sullivan "pushed the envelope as far as the envelope could be pushed," especially when CBS threatened to stop him from performing the first time in 1953 because of his left-wing politics and Sullivan went to bat for him with the network.

Sullivan and his voice and mannerisms have been made fun of by comedians over the years because yes, he was not your typical TV host. He was not classically handsome, often called "The Great Stone Face" and was very stiff on camera, but he made his mark on TV with a show that ran for 23 years. TV Guide ranked it 15th in the top "50 Greatest TV shows of All Time." But more importantly, Sullivan made a huge contribution to racial equality.

Sullivan died three days after the show ended.  He died on a Sunday night.

Rosy the Reviewer says...The Ed Sullivan Show was "appointment TV" of the highest order.  I was there every Sunday night with my family and knowing what Sullivan did to promote black artists makes me very glad I was. And you can be there too, for a little while, when you watch this highly recommended documentary (Netflix).

Zarna Garg: One in a Billion (2023)

Comedian Zarna Garg's first comedy special.

Born in India, Garg grew up in Mumbai.  Her mother died when she was 14 and her father tried to force her into an arranged marriage.  Zarna ran away and eventually she emigrated to the U.S. to live with her sister in Ohio. She eventually earned a law degree, married and was a stay-at-home mom for 16 years until her children encouraged her to try stand-up comedy.  I guess she was a funny mom.  She performed at an open mic in New York City in 2018 and in 2021 won Kevin Hart's comedy competition (Lyft Comics) on Peacock and in 2022 she was highlighted as "one of the gutsiest women comedians in America" on "Gutsy" on Apple TV hosted by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.

I first saw her interviewed on "The View" this year when she was making the rounds promoting her memoir, "This American Woman: One in a Billion," so named because she credits American women for giving her the strength to fend off the expectations of her culture and go her own way, especially starting a comedy career in her 40's. She thinks our expression of "one in a million" is not much of a compliment. It's "cute." India has a population of over a billion, so where she is now from where she started, she is "one in a billion." Now that's a compliment.  I thought her story was so compelling that I wanted to read her book which I did and which in turn led me to want to see her comedy routine. 

Which I did.

Written by Garg and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss, this is her first stand-up comedy special and she is very funny and endearing.

Her family-friendly routine takes the audience through her journey, makes fun of the cultural differences between Indian parents and American parents and family expectations (no art majors in Indian families), complains about her mother-in-law (she stalks her TikTok account), explains why Indian kids are smarter and win all of the spelling bees (their parents don't tell them to follow their dreams like American parents do, but to be practical), and more. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a fresh addition to the comedy world (Amazon Prime.  You can also catch her latest special "Zarna Garg: Practical People Win" now streaming on Hulu and find her book at your local library)

See You Next Time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

What I Watched in November - Movie Picks and Pans

[I review the new movie about SNL - "Saturday Night" - as well as the documentary "Child Star" and two comedy specials: "Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny" and "Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval."]

The following isn't really all I watched in November.  I was on a horror kick earlier in the month so in case you missed my post "Giving Some Respect to Horror Films - Some New Ones You Might Enjoy!" - here it is again.

Now on with the rest of the month!

Saturday Night (2024)

Can you believe it's been almost 50 years since "Saturday Night Live" came on the air?  Well, it wasn't called "Saturday Night Live" at the beginning and it almost didn't happen.  Here is the story.

It's October 11, 1975 and producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is worried about the first episode of his show "Saturday Night," which is supposed to air on NBC that night. There is 90 minutes until air time, and there is all kinds of dysfunction behind the scenes. Michael's boss, Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), warns him that NBC executive, Dave Tebet (Willem Defoe), who has no faith in the show and would rather play a "Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" rerun, has brought other executives from across the country to watch the show and there is an NBC censor on hand trying to cut the sketches. But despite the chaos, Michaels is determined to make this show happen because he believes it is historic, the first show created and produced by the first generation of TV watchers.

There is also dysfunction within the cast, The Not Ready for Primetime Players.

Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), whose background is opera and musical theatre, wonders what he is doing in a comedy show; John Belushi (Matt Wood) hasn't signed his contract, is hard to get along with and storms off, threatening to quit; Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun) doesn't like how he is being treated by the writers; Paul Shaffer (Paul Rust) is getting high; Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith) is already showing signs of his soon-to-be-well-known arrogance and gets into it with Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons); Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien) tries to be helpful; Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) is, well, Gilda Radner, though she is downplayed a bit here and Andy Kaufman (also played by Nicholas Braun) is, well, Andy Kaufman; Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula) and Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany) are hanging about with not a lot to do;  and host George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) just thinks the show is a mess. Thank goodness Lorne's wife, Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) is on hand to help calm him down (and it's good to see her get some credit for her creative contributions to the show).

Is the show going to be a hit?  Is it even going to get on the air?

For you younger folks out there, early "Saturday Night Live" was very different from today. First of all, it was called "NBC's Saturday Night." I think the show was also much edgier and stranger than it is today. I mean there were killer bees, land sharks, aliens and the dark humor that head writer, Michael O'Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) brought to the show.  In the first episode, he plays an English-language teacher, trying to teach John Belushi's character to speak English by repeating the phrases, "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines. We are out of badgers. Would you accept a wolverine in its place?" and "Hey! Ned exclaimed, Let's boil the wolverines" before suddenly dropping dead of a heart attack. O'Donoghue also cultivated the persona of the grim "Mr. Mike," a coldly decadent figure who told comically dark "Least-Loved Bedtime Stories" such as "The Little Engine that Died."  And later, there was "Mr. Bill," a claymation figure created by Walter Williams, who went through various indignities and torture at the hands of "Mr. Hands" and Bill's "best friend," Sluggo. When Mr. Bill would get dismembered he would cry, "Ooooh, nooooo" in a falsetto voice. Some very strange but fun stuff. 

I have a very fond affection for SNL.

I watched it from the very beginning.  I had just gotten my first professional job as a librarian and was living and working in a very rural area of Northern California, and let's just say, I'm not much of a rural girl. There was no stop light in the town, not even a McDonalds! Watching SNL with it's offbeat, sophisticated humor gave me the bright lights of the big city that I needed. 

The ensemble cast are mostly unknowns but they channel the original Saturday Night cast well, and the film, written by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman and directed by Reitman, despite some missteps (there is a strange bit about a brick floor) captures the behind the scenes ups and downs and the stress and excitement of an opening night in real time, until finally, Chevy Chase announces "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night."  The rest is history. Saturday night would never be the same again.

Rosy the Reviewer says...it's a chaotic, often fun romp, but perhaps not for everyone as it might not resonate with those who don't remember the original cast members. But for those of us who were there from the beginning, it brings back memories. (In theatres and for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime)  

Child Star (2024)

What being a child star does to you.

Directed by Nicola Marsh and former child star, Demi Lovato, this documentary examines the trials and tribulations of some of our most famous child stars: Lovato, Drew Barrymore, Raven-Symone, Christina Ricci and others.  I was particularly interested in Kenan Thompson.  I kept wondering what he was doing in the film.  I knew he was a "Saturday Night Live" cast member but didn't realize he had been a child star before that, starring in Nickelodeon's "All That" and "Kenan and Kel" as a teen. 

Many child stars have not fared well.  Shirley Temple, one of the most famous child stars ever, never really made it as an adult actress.  Jackie Coogan was a child star in silent films, often with Charlie Chaplin, and grew up to discover his parents had spent all of his money, resulting in the "California Child Actor's Bill," aka the "Coogan Law," which protects the earnings of child actors.  And several child stars, like Dana Plato who starred on "Diff'rent Strokes" and Rusty Hamer, who starred on "Make Room For Daddy," have had tragic deaths.

This film weaves historical background and interviews with the now adult stars together to paint a picture of the highs and lows of being a child star and, though there are definitely some benefits to fame as a child, the lows can be very low. Some of them had a very rough time, dealing with eating disorders, drug addiction and financial pressures from their families. We hear their personal journeys and experiences in the film industry. Director Chris Columbus, who produced "Home Alone" and the first two Harry Potter movies, also weighs in, sharing details about castings and the impact that fame has on the lives of young actors.

Since this is Lovato's film, she is the focus, sharing her life experiences as a child actor on "Barney & Friends" and on the Disney Channel. Drew Barrymore is also highlighted, and it's good to see she has done well with her talk show, though how she ever got a talk show, I will never know.  For some reason, she has always annoyed me.  Perhaps it's her earnestness which generates a self importance that is off-putting, but I know she had a rough childhood with parents who let her smoke dope with them at 10 and dragged her to clubs.  So I know I shouldn't be so judgmental about her.  But being a child star isn't all bad either. The interview with Christina Ricci is particularly poignant as she shares her story of her abusive home life and how going to the set each day and acting was actually a haven for her.

Written by Dani Sloane, this is an earnest film that perhaps goes on a bit long with no new revelations - I mean, we get it, show business can be brutal, especially for children - and the film can be a bit precious at times - it's obviously a passion project for Lovato who seeks to help others - but all-in-all, some interesting insights about growing up famous and, let's just say that Nickelodeon and Disney don't come out looking very child friendly.

Rosy the Reviewer says...for all of us, who as a child yearned to be a star, perhaps we dodged a bullet! (Hulu)

Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny (2024)

Taped at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston comic Jim Gaffigan gives the "skinny" on everything from his weight loss to raising teens to beards.

Known as a "clean" comic, Jim Gaffigan has been making people laugh for over 25 years with his self-deprecating and observational humor ranging from food to topics of the day to his wife and five kids, and this comedy special is no exception.  It made me laugh. 

Gaffigan addresses his dramatic weight loss at the beginning of the set. “I don’t know if you know, I’m normally a fat guy,” he says. “But since I’ve lost all this weight, now I’m just arrogant.”

Food has always been a hot topic for Gaffigan but now he has lost weight and don't accuse him of being on Ozempic....he's on Mounjaro!  But he is keeping his fat clothes because he says he's not a fool.  He sees the clothes in the closet and they taunt him "You'll be back!"

He also riffs on Viagra (it started as a blood pressure medicine until it's...uh...side effects became known); the difficulty of coming up with an acceptable password (he gets writer's block trying to come up with the letters, numbers and symbols that will be accepted passwords); how he doesn't understand the stock market even though he majored in finance in college; and why beards are important (a man looks in the mirror and says "I need to hide this!").  

But his main material is his wife and five children. 

"Children are the only thing we remove from our bodies... and then keep!"

"My kids' friends see me as an Uber driver and they have requested a silent ride."

"Being a Dad is like being a back-up quarterback.  When you are brought into the game people are nervous."

But with Gaffigan, it's not just his jokes. It's also his delivery that makes them funny.

Gaffigan is everywhere these days.  He played Tim Walz on SNL, he has starred in the movie "Unfrosted" and is touring with Jerry Seinfeld.  And he deserves this success. There is a reason he is my favorite comedian. He is a very funny guy.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a fun 60 minutes that will take your mind off of your troubles. Did I say he is a very funny guy? (Hulu)

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval (2024)

Ellen performing at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, August 2024, in a comedy special that she has stated will be the end of her public career as a comedian...and sadly, this one wasn't funny.

First of all, I have to say I have always been a huge Ellen fan.  I loved her dry, dead-pan humor and her talk show, though I could do without her dancing in the audience. I thought she was hilarious and she always made me laugh.  Not this time. Calling this a comedy special is a huge overstatement. Too bad she isn't going out with a lot of laughs.

Remember how Ellen would always end her show with "Be kind to one another?"  Well, when she was accused of being a bully by members of her talk show staff, it ended her show and, according to her, she was "kicked out of show business." She clearly hasn't gotten over what happened and has a major bone to pick. This is less a comedy stand-up and more of a rant about what she has been through and how unfair it all was.  She spends most of the 70 minutes going over those 2020 bullying accusations and, though she was trying to be funny, there wasn't a laugh to be had. If she hadn't already been "kicked out of show business," after this, she surely would have been.

Don't get me wrong, I feel for her, but you know the old saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire?"  Though I don't think she is a mean person, she herself admits she is a perfectionist and has OCD, so I think it's fairly likely there were some on her staff who might have felt bullied or at least put upon. 

But you know what, Ellen? The show must go on.  I don't think it's over for you.  Someone who had to do what you did to make it in the world of stand-up isn't likely to sit on the sidelines.  I wish you well and I think we will see you again.

Rosy the Reviewer says...but cringeworthy.  Sorry, Ellen, I didn't approve. (Netflix)

See you next time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!