Hamlet 2 (Second Opinion)

Hamlet 2
Starring: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Joseph Julian Soria, Melonie Diaz, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Phoebe Strole, Skylar Astin, Amy Poehler
Directed By: Andrew Fleming
Written By: Andrew Fleming, Pam Brady
Release: 2008
Grade: B-

From a young age Dana Marchz (Coogan) wanted nothing more than to be an actor. He was in a few commercials, but never made it upon realizing that he wasn’t very good. Well you know what they say: those who can’t do teach. So Dana follows this and becomes a high school drama teacher. At the school he teaches at the drama program isn’t very large. There are really only two students that enroll in his class, Rand (Astin) and Epiphany (Strole). They are in every production, which is always a remake of a Hollywood movie. These productions are hated by everyone, especially the school’s critic, an extremely short freshman, who seems more intelligent than anyone else in this film.

The school has a lot of funding problems and nearly all of the extra programs have been cut. So all of the Latin students who live in the less well of areas get stuck in the theater program. There is total chaos in Dana’s classroom from this point on, which is stuck in the cafeteria with the lunch ladies making noise. He isn’t getting any respect from anyone except for his two loyal students. Everyone else is just taking advantage of him. Not to mention after this year, drama will be canceled. Dana decides that the best way to get funding and save his program is to bring attention to it. He sets out to make the play this year be the best he has ever directed. Rather than doing another movie turned play, he is advised to do something else. Dana takes this as a recommendation to create a creative piece of work. He spends a couple days struggling with it and ends up with Hamlet 2, a sequel to William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy that includes and boys having a sexual attraction to Jesus as he resurrects, fights with the devil, and features a bi-curious male character.

Just about everyone who isn’t directly involved in the movie is more than critical about it. Some parents try to drag their kids out of the play. Rand feels upstaged when one of the Latino boys gets a bigger part while his is shortened and feels insulted that his character being attracted to Jesus has something to do with Dana’s opinion of Rand’s sexuality. Rand has always been the class pet and he quits when he senses that changing. He then brings the obviously very controversial play to the principal’s office. The principal is appalled by the material and forbids Dana to put the show on. He then takes further action by locking them out of their theater space, firing Dana, and even giving him a restraining order. On his way home roller blading one night, he is continuously ran in to by a car as a warning for him. When Dana gets back he is told by his wife, Brie (Keener) that she is leaving with their roommate Gary(Arquette) and that the baby she is pregnant with belongs to him not Dana. She even leaves all the bills for him that need to be paid soon. This really puts him at an all time low. Luckily, his students are there to pick him up. They practice at an abandoned stage where parties are sometimes thrown. Dana also gets some legal protection by Cricket (Poehler) who is determined that the play won’t stop no matter what it takes as she is desperate to let the freedom of speech through the play be exercised. It has become a huge event, while there are a lot of people trying to stop it, major news organizations from all over are coming to report on the event. This will either make or break Dana and his students that have put everything on the line for this.

Steve Coogan is very offbeat and certain times he hits the laughs better than others. This is very similar to how the overall film is and in a movie this quirky he seems very fitting as the lead. His enthusiasm is great and he gives us a pretty unique character. I felt for him throughout the film and sure when he was cheated and taken advantage of, I did feel sorry for him, but I didn’t pity him. This is very important since although we don’t have his mind set and we are laughing at some of the obscurity he shows us, we are still laughing with him. If we saw him to be a completely hopeless character than the film would suffer from it. It was a bit surprising to see Catherine Keener as a bitch here. She was funny and it was a different role and although she wasn’t as likeable as she usually is, she was still enjoyable to watch. The chemistry between her and David Arquette was great and for most of the movie it was how well they worked together as antagonists to each other that was interesting, yet we learn this was either just the image they wanted us to see or truly what it started out as in the beginning.

Phoebe Strole and Skylar Astin do very well as the upper class drama geeks. They bring forth the attitude perfectly. The one thing I didn’t like that much was in the character of Epiphany, she mentions feeling racist towards people of different ethnic backgrounds. While working with them, instead of just fearing them, she tries to be like them, but just uses stereotypical slang and really has no understanding of them. This is slightly touched on, but there is no real conclusion on it either way. The first line that shows this is funny, but the rest just come off as fake. Jospeh Julian Soria gave us a character that seemed like a slacker who just liked to stir up trouble. Yet as the movie goes on he develops and shows that he can commit to something and show it some respect. He actually does great in the role within the role. Melonie Diaz does wonderfully as well as someone who has a similar transformation and becomes changed for the better by her experience. Elisabeth Shue also makes an appearance as herself. She has given up acting and has turned to nursing. This serves as a jab to Hollywood and what it can take out of a person who once had a love for her craft. Dana’s near obsession and amazement with her helps add some laughs as well. Amy Phoehler was the actor that I liked the least in the film. She was obnoxious and annoying, which is partially the part of the script. She keeps on talking about how she is married to a Jew, as if that is a much worse thing than anyone else could do to her. This is never put in a funny context and just seems bitter and distasteful.

Of course the controversy of the play is part of what makes the movie with songs like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” and descriptions like Jesus has a swimmers bod so funny. This was a necessary element as more drastic measures can be taken for and against the show. There really isn’t anything else in the movie that should really offend the audience. If anything it should be when Jesus says if his dad finds out what he has been up to “He’s going to crucify me”. I can understand people not wanting this to be the punch line to a joke, but for the viewers that know this is something that will offend them, they have seen the commercial with this in it and should know that this isn’t the movie for them. There are things that are talked about in unconventional ways, but nothing is meant to be in bad spirits and for the most part ends up just being wacky fun. The pronunciation of the last named, Marchz, as every word is slowly spoken is pretty humorous especially since Dana is so insistent about it and no one else seems to catch on to it.

Hamlet 2 is a very uneven movie, at times it is very funny and other times it lays kind of flat. More character development on any or all of the supporting characters, would have made it seem like a more complete and well rounded film since Dana was really the only one who was fully explored. Personally, watching the actual play was the most entertaining part of the movie for me. There was a ton of energy put in to this completely obscure play that really shouldn’t have worked yet was still fun to watch. This is kind of how the movie is as well. It is not a great movie by any means and if it is a good movie, it only barely swings by as that, yet you can’t help but like it all the same. It serves as one of the most out there inspirational teacher movies and this is even poked fun at within the script. I also did appreciate that others clichés as well were presented and used, but then for the most part broken. I do think the film could have gone further and it would have benefited from being consistently funny rather than sporadically. It being goofy even with the situation throughout did help the more mellow moments. Also, it is one where the more you think about it, the more fun you realize it is.