To Laugh, or not to Laugh, That is the Question.

Hamlet 2 squanders its weight in gold

by Morgan P Salvo

Hamlet 2 is a mixed bag of treats, missed opportunities, inspired comic genius, dull plodding, and failed timing. In other words some parts are good, while others not so much.
The film starts off with a collage of the “work” of actor Dana Marchz (Steve Coogan) including infomercials and roles in Xena, showing real humorous potential. Cut to the present where he is a depressed but optimistic dweeb acting teacher in Tucson. He is on the verge of losing the drama department due to the lack of talent in his plays (stage versions of movies like Erin Brokovich) plus fiscal cutbacks and a really mad, conservative principal (the always underrated Marshall Bell) who hates his guts. He then inadvertently adopts a bunch of inner city kids into his class, fighting the trials and tribulations that all that entails. He comes up with the idea to do a sequel to Hamlet. “Everyone dies in the first one” so Marchz (a name constantly mispronounced) solves that problem with a time machine, Jesus and a lot of gay references.
Steve Coogan is brilliant in the lead role, but perhaps too brilliant…he is given way too much leeway to over act and at first it works but then it becomes tedious overkill. The character drains you of any sympathy, and after a while you just want to punch him in the face. As wife Brie, Katherine Keener does her smartest and bitchiest person in the room shtick, nothing new there, although she does drink a margarita that’s the size of a herculean goblet. Then there’s Elizabeth Shue playing herself as giving up on acting and becoming a nurse; this is thankfully underplayed. In a bizarre twist, roommate Gary (David Arquette) has two lines. Like his mere presence is enough.
There are some real comic moments throughout but what it lacks is timing. Long drawn out scenes where nothing is integral to the plot, long pauses after things that should be funny but aren’t funny, and then the pause is supposed to be the funny part. What I found most humorous were the little throw away lines, like referring to the Patch Adams star as Robin C. Williams, and signage behind them like “prickly pear fertility clinic” and the “Snackatorium” (where they are forced to rehearse).
There are some first-rate funny one-liners, but an engaging movie one-liners do not make. Missing entirely was any kind of build up to the show. The supposed show stopper song “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” is a let down. I hope this was the point. The movie should’ve spent more time building suspense (or at least interest) in pre-production rehearsals along the lines of Waiting for Guffman. Better yet, as with writer Pam Brady’s input to Team America, this would have been way funnier if the whole thing was done in puppet form.
I think that the premise and production of this movie was designed to frustrate the audience, to lead us to water and then not allow us to drink. H2 is one big façade to force the audience to watch something half-ass satisfying… I could just feel writers Brady and Andrew Fleming (director) wishing to be the flies on the wall watching audiences to NOT laugh and NOT get parts in this movie. It seems to be the ultimate in-joke like we are the consummate test audience and WE are the joke to sit back and feel duped. In theory that’s kind of a good idea but to the guinea pig it is not. I understand that really bad, meaningless, cute, touching, politically incorrect, wacky and wrong humor can make everyone laugh but I think director and writer are laughing at the audience’s expense—which just dries out any hope of having any REAL feeling towards this movie. The more I think about it the less I like it. Hamlet 2 could’ve soared into dazzling hilarity, but the never ending in-joke and flat material, although weirdly fresh, is just not that funny.

Hamlet 2
Starring: Steve Coogan, Katherine Keener, David Arquette, Elizabeth Shue
Director: Andrew Fleming
2 stars