I love this movie and while I can understand where people start to feel as though Sandler plays the same character in every movie that he is in, this was at the beginning, so people didn't have a chance to be sick of his shtick at that point in time.
I am extremely immature for my age. I never grew up and sometimes that feels like a point of pride and other times it seems a bit embarrassing. It is too late now though, I am who I am and that man-child inside of me really enjoys this movie despite its flaws.
Adam Sandler plays Happy Gilmore, a failed hockey player who accidentally finds out he has a tremendous ability at golf. Due to financial difficulties that his grandmother is facing, he enters pro golf tournaments in an effort to help her out. He quickly finds out that he can actually make a lot of money doing this.
The problem is, he is nothing like a "real" golfer. He refuses to wear traditional golf attire, he has frequent rage outburts that get him in trouble with the tour and invokes the ire of other traditional players, most notably "Shooter" McGavin (Christopher McDonald.)
I can't say for certain, but being in this film may have actually been damaging to McDonald's career
Some of the scenes are poorly shot but I don't think the director and producer really cared that it was obvious that the alligators were fake, or that the aerial shots of the ball flying indicate a much greater distance than is actually traveled. Maybe they were messing with us.
One of the most famous scenes that many people are likely familiar with even if they haven't seen the movie is the fight between Bob Barker and Happy Gilmore during a celebrity golf classic.
I bet that was a lot of fun to film and an unintended side-effect of this scene was that "The Price is Right" experienced a surge in younger viewers after the film was released. A demographic that the show had been trying to capture (unsuccessfully) for years.
If you don't like Sandler, you will definitely not like this movie. From a cinematography point of view, it is also pretty bad. However, if you enjoy juvenile humor I think this movie is a lot of fun. I have seen it many times and still enjoy a re-watch every now and then.