Rama’s SCREEN

HAMLET 2 is a comedy that got my hopes up but never reaches quite exactly what it promises. It’s got potential but it lacks many things that would make a decent movie. It has… some funny moments but most jokes miss the target. You’d chuckle sometimes here and there but for the most part, you get the impression the writers were lazy and didn’t put enough effort in to the story.

In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

I give some props to the story for making the Steve Coogan’s character successful in being one of the biggest losers to ever hit the big screen.
The way he’s pounded by one odd misfortune after another and the way he loathes himself in the process is an entertaining take on the concept of underdogs and how dreams sometimes take a crappy detour to a small town called Tuscon in Arizona.

Of course, all that is thanks to a tour de force performance by Actor Steve Coogan. The movie may be very weak, but Steve is anything but. I’d say he would get the Golden Globe nomination for lead acting in the category comedy/musical but the movie might hurt the opportunity.
There’s a scene when he hears for the first time that the drama department is going to be shut down. He reaches the point of desperation, he expresses his anguish in tears and he falls down to the floor. For a comedy, I’d say that’s some helluva good acting.

I’m impressed with the musical part of the movie. It doesn’t make sense. Something about forgiving your own father, it’s silly, ridiculous but you just gotta admire the creativity they put into making the whole thing happen using simple things, that’s what’s always cool about any type of stage plays, you might not have the actual landscape or a full range of backgrounds that screen films can attain, but you replace it with either a replica or things that would give visual implication, if you will.
I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Shue and I think her appearance in this movie, playing herself is straight up awesome. I’m a little disappointed with Catherine Keener’s performance, don’t get me wrong.. she’s an powerful actress with great resume, it’s just that this movie makes it impossible for her to show off what she’s actually got. The role that she plays is borderline unnecessary.

HAMLET 2 has caused a bit of a controversy because some might say the song ‘Rock Me Sexy Jesus’ which is part of the musical play in the movie is downright blasphemous. Offensive or not, they’re attacking it for the wrong reasons.
Look, The movie lacks build up. There’s one point where the students don’t care and they’re a bunch of troublemakers but all of a sudden, without explanation in between, they become gung-ho about drama.

Some scenes would make you confused… as in ‘what the hell just happened’.
You’d have one scene but then it gets cut short and then it goes into another completely irrelevant scene and the same thing happens. The filmmaker fails to emphasize each one of them and makes it memorable. There’s no defining moment that turns the character from a loser into a teacher who actually inspires. As a matter of fact, the students have to do the job and they’re not doing a good one too.

I guess I was expecting a laugh riot from the people who brought us outrageous stuff like Team America: World Police and South Park the movie. HAMLET 2 just isn’t as funny.

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