'Hamlet 2': almost as funny as 'Hamlet 1'

By Bruce Watson

Published on September 05, 2008

Somewhere deep in the bowels of Hollywood, several writers, directors and producers decided this would be the summer of vulgar comedy. And so, audiences have suffered through "The Love Guru," "Step Brothers, "Tropic Thunder," and now "Hamlet 2."

Yet unlike those other marginally funny comedies, "Hamlet 2" actually has a funny premise. Suppose a hack Hollywood actor became a high school drama teacher. And suppose, to save his drama program from the budget axe, he staged his own daringly weird sequel to Hamlet. Sounds like something studio heads, and moviegoers could buy, especially if it starred Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, and Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler.

If only it had been written or directed by someone from SNL, the premise might have worked. Instead, director Andrew Fleming ("Dick") and longtime South Park writer Pam Brady get hold of the premise and drive it into a ditch.

Following an amusing opening, in which the daffy Coogan gets to overact, cut up, and fall on his face about 50 times, the rest of the film gives us . . . more Steve Coogan. Although very popular in England, Coogan is something of an acquired taste on this side of the Atlantic. And that taste is neither strong enough nor funny enough to carry the whole film.

Coogan continues to do his best as "Hamlet 2" goes absolutely nowhere. His drama class is suddenly filled with tough-talking students. He wins them over with weirdness. The school cuts drama. He dives into writing his dream play, the sequel that uses a time machine to bring Hamlet, Jesus, Einstein, and Hillary Clinton into one crazy script. But when his wife leaves him, taking the zany Catherine Keener out of the picture, Coogan becomes the lone laugh maker and "Hamlet 2" plummets.

The missed satiric targets continue to pile up. What about making fun of that bottomless butt of jokes - high school? How about taking on prudish parents? Perhaps a few jokes about Shakespeare? Sadly, all "Hamlet 2" can do is bring on a trash-talking ACLU lawyer and have Coogan fall down a few more times. But wait. Maybe you've seen so many shock comedies this summer that you think a line about having Satan French kiss the president is funny. Or maybe, like summer audiences, you no longer care if comedies are funny.

The play should have been the thing to revive the film, but it turns out to be about as funny as Hamlet 1. Songs like "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus," and "Raped in the Face" are little more than silly. Watching parents watch in shock gets old. And by the time Coogan steps onstage as Jesus in jeans, his own shtick has long since run out of gas.

The key to the whole debacle is summed up by one of Coogan's young actors. "You told us it doesn't matter how much talent we lack so long as we have enthusiasm," he says. Well, maybe it didn't matter this summer, but the summer of shock, thank God, is over.