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Hamlet 2
(2008)
In 1996, Waiting for Guffman set the bar extremely high for films about amateur theater and until now, nothing has come close to attaining the same level of comedic genius as it did. But in the summer of 2008, Guffman's successor has made itself known—Andrew Fleming's Hamlet 2. While not a mockumentary like the works of Christopher Guest, this film hits all the right notes, and anyone who's ever participated in high school or community theater will see so many similarities that you won't be able to not love the film. Despite this being a raucously zany comedy, Hamlet 2 is grounded in such true-to-life tropes that it retains a sense of reality that even Guffman didn't quite achieve.
The film follows the hopeless endeavors of high school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) as he attempts to save his Tuscon, Arizona high school's drama program from being shut down for budgetary reasons. Motivated by countless "inspirational teacher" movies like Mr. Holland's Opus, Dead Poets Society and Dangerous Minds, Marschz takes a huge risk by writing his own musical masterpiece to "save" his influx of latino students who are now in drama due to other electives being eliminated. The result is one of the most irreverent sequels of all time, a continuation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" including time travel and one of the funniest musical numbers of all time, "Rock Me Sexy Jesus."
Marschz's life is pretty pathetic, from his failed acting career to his inability to get his wife (Catherine Keener) pregnant. But Coogan plays the character so believably that one gets the sense that this is a real man. A clueless man, but a genuine one. As humorous as many elements of the film get, it never crosses the line into the realm of disbelief and the result is that the film as a whole is all the more funny. From Dana's constant rivalry with the school newspaper's scathing theater critic to his constant struggle with writer's block, Coogan delivers a tragic hero worthy of appearing in a film called Hamlet.
Co-screenwriter Pam Brady (Team America: World Police) continues the trend of her collaborative work with Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park) with a film that seems to be intentionally offensive, but not to the same extent. In Team America, elements felt like they were thrown in specifically to cause a stir, but even Hamlet 2's most un-P.C. musical numbers (like "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and "Raped in the Face") are grounded in the reality of the film and justified by the narrative. And they feed into the negative reaction from the Tuscon community which culminates in the film's third act with a media circus surrounding the play's debut. I'd warn the more easily offended viewers to avoid the film, but upon second thought, I don't think they'll actually offend anyone, except other characters within the film. Sure, it's irreverent and comes very close to crossing the line of decency, but it never goes into territory that any reasonable viewer can't handle.
With headliners like Coogan and Keener (and even Elisabeth Shue, playing herself) the younger cast members have a lot to live up to and they rise to the challenge across the board. It would have been very easy for the high school students to play their characters as mere stereotypes, but every one of them is a humanized, well-rounded character. And despite all of Dana's efforts to save them as one of his inspirational inner-city movie teachers would, it's the students who save him from his own self-destruction.
Tropic Thunder is the only film to be released this year that contends with Hamlet 2 for the illustrious, if a bit subjective, title of funniest film of 2008, but Stiller's outing is a bit too over-the-top and cartoonish to beat out Hamlet for the spot. It's rare that a comedy comes along that is so tightly made, so believably real, and most of all so outrageously hilarious as Hamlet 2. This is one comedy you don't want to miss. Unless of course you have a time machine to go back and undo your tragic mistakes.
-Mark Moreland
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Director:
Andrew Fleming
Writer: Andrew Fleming & Pam Brady
Starring: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Poehler
Distributor: Focus Features
Runtime: 92
min
Rating: R
Release Date: August 27, 2008
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