Who doesn’t love a feel-good classic? You know the type of movies we’re talking about: those poorly-reviewed comedy-dramas that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, regardless of your mood, relationship status or the weather outside of your window.
Netflix, for all its recent critics, boasts a pretty great library of certified serotonin-boosters, and below we’ve rounded up three of the most iconic – all of which are scheduled to leave the US version of the streamer on June 30, 2022.
Let’s be clear: none of the below titles rank among our pick of the best Netflix movies – two of them feature a Jack and Jill-era Adam Sandler, for goodness’ sake – but it’s hard to argue against their capacity to induce carefree joy. Happy watching, folks!
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Yes, it’s finally happening: Happy Gilmore is leaving Netflix. Credited with putting Adam Sandler on the Hollywood map in 1996, this legendary sports comedy follows a down-on-his-luck hockey player who swaps the ice rink for the golf course in a bid to save his grandmother’s foreclosed home.
Packed to the rafters with nineties drama clichés and downright stupid jokes about butts and alligators, Dennis Dugan’s 90-minute takedown of golf and golfers is an old-fashioned hoot, and established a decade-hopping partnership between its director and leading man (Dugan and Sandler would go on to produce Big Daddy, You Don't Mess With the Zohan, Grown Ups and many more homogeneous comedies together).
If you’re keen to see the funnyman flexing his acting muscles instead of launching golf clubs across the putting green, Hustle, the uplifting story of a down-on-his-luck basketball scout, is now also streaming on Netflix.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Like Adam Sandler, actor Jason Segel solidified his status as a go-to rom-com star with a string of loser-gets-his-mojo-back performances throughout the noughties – and Forgetting Sarah Marshall remains up there with his most endearing.
Nicholas Stoller’s 2008 comedy revolves around Peter (Segel), a slacker music composer who struggles to cope when his actress girlfriend, Sarah (Kristen Bell), calls time on their five-year relationship. In a bid to boost his spirits, Peter ventures to Hawaii, where he bumps into a new love interest, Rachel (Mila Kunis), as well as Sarah and her new rockstar boyfriend (Russell Brand).
The plot is simple, the humor crude, but Forgetting Sarah Marshall is undoubtedly a film capable of brightening the most dour of moods. Incidentally, TechRadar’s Senior Audio Writer, Becky Scarrott, was among those chosen to preview and sense check the film ahead of its release – so you can blame her for the scene exposing Segel’s private parts.
Just Go With It (2011)
Oddly, Just Go With It could conceivably be the movie lovechild you would get if Happy Gilmore and Forgetting Sarah Marshall went to bed together. Like the former, it’s directed by Denis Gugan and stars Adam Sandler in the lead role, and like the latter, it follows the romantic mishaps of a couple vacationing in Hawaii.
Sandler plays Danny in this one, a successful plastic surgeon who convinces his assistant (Jennifer Aniston) to role-play as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in an effort to cover up a lie told to his much younger girlfriend. The pair venture abroad to maintain the illusion, but Danny soon finds himself caring far more for his co-worker than he ever intended or expected.
Once again, then, Just Go With It is standard (and, at times, brainless) rom-com fare – but you’ll still find it hard to resist Sandler and Aniston’s starry chemistry.
As mentioned, all three of the above movies are leaving Netflix on June 30, 2022, so you’ll have to act fast if you’re keen to catch them. To help you stay on top of everything else that’s coming and going on the streamer this month, we’ve compiled a helpful list of all the movies and TV shows leaving Netflix in June.
