Exclusive: Christian Slater Joins Nicholas Hoult in David Leitch’s Heist Movie 'How to Rob a Bank'

Happy Tuesday morning, folks!

I’m back from a wild weekend in Joshua Tree, and though I’m tired as hell, I still made it out to Century City tonight for Paramount’s reboot of The Naked Gun. Liam Neeson is especially well-cast as Frank Drebin Jr., but I’ll have more to say about that later this week.

I’m still working on a proper review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but I also watched Happy Gilmore 2 this weekend, and my lord, it has to be the most disappointing movie in recent memory. I had a feeling it was going to be bad when reviews were embargoed until the film began streaming on Netflix and the bold headline of THR’s review called it “terrible,” but I figured that critics were just being sticks in the mud.

Well, I was wrong.

Happy Gilmore 2 is little more than a parade of cameos from Adam Sandler’s friends and family members, some of whom I know and adore, strung together by the dumbest of plots. And yeah, I know I’m a 41-year-old man, and this movie was made for a new generation of 12-year-olds, which is how old I was when I saw the original, but there’s no excuse for this goofy, nearly laugh-free sequel.

Why Scott Stuber (who greenlit the movie) and Sarah Sarandos (Ted’s daughter) would want to cameo in this mind-boggling mess is completely beyond me.

I will admit to enjoying the final 10 minutes, as well as several performances — from MVP Scottie Scheffler, Christopher McDonald, and Bad Bunny, in that order — but overall, part of me felt embarrassed for Sandler that this was the best he and co-writer Tim Herlihy could do after nearly 30 years of thinking about this sequel.

My brother said he felt like Sandler destroyed his legacy further with Happy Gilmore 2, and while I wouldn’t personally go that far, I can see how others might find that statement hard to argue with. The movie is that bad.

Let’s just say that if Happy Gilmore 2 came out after Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, which is expected to put Sandler in contention for a supporting actor Oscar, it would definitely be his Norbit — the movie that may very well have cost Eddie Murphy an Oscar for Dreamgirls.

And speaking of the Oscars, I’ll have a fresh set of predictions soon, as well as my long-gestating thoughts on the Academy’s decision to give Tom Cruise an honorary Oscar, and Kathleen Kennedy’s crusade to lobby for one on Bob Iger’s behalf.

Tonight, you’ll read about Christian Slater joining the cast of David Leitch’s new movie, and all the shakeups and breakups around town, from Josh Greenstein leaving Sony for Paramount to Keanu Reeves dropping his longtime rep, and Ryan Coogler letting go of three female executives in the midst of a “record-breaking” year.

Plus, there are items about JT Mollner’s latest Stephen King adaptation, Sterling K. Brown’s new Hulu series, the HBO series that was just renewed, the cast of Chris Rock’s next film, the latest additions to David Fincher’s Cliff Booth movie and Hulu’s new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, and my thoughts on the trailer for Keeper, which marks Oz Perkins’ second horror movie of 2025.

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