Hamlet 2 [HD]

Hilariously Loopy, Politically Incorrect Farce Boasts Enough Laughs to Overcome Its Uneven Structure
I kept flashing back to Christopher Guest's hilarious 1997 mockumentary, Waiting for Guffman, as I was watching this raucous 2008 comedy, and in this case, that turns out to be high praise. Directed and co-written in ramshackle fashion by Andrew Fleming (whose most prominent credits include the 2003 remake of The In-Laws and an episode of Arrested Development), this wacky concoction mixes broad slapstick, harmless raunch, and politically incorrect humor with a heavy, tongue-in-cheek dose of Dangerous Minds (referred to in the film) and every other cliché-driven movie about a schoolteacher who serves to inspire his students. The result is something of a mess when it comes to telling a coherent...

Coogan = Funny
Steve Coogan plays his character with such naivete and pure love for theatrical arts, you can't help but dig him. The entire cast is up to the challenge of playing into his character that the film becomes more about embracing one person's passion no matter how awful you think it might be because you are satisfying the end result - art for art's sake. And in the end, they pull it off.

The film may not succeed in every way (i.e. David Arquette has literally nothing to do and the arc with Catherine Keener is utterly predictable), but there are never long sections that feel like the film is dragging. The laughs keep coming even through the character's lowest moment and Amy Poehler breathes plenty of fresh air into it at the end.

Hamlet II
I am a professional actor (stage, TV and film) and a substitute high school teacher. I am also a script writer and "script doctor." Physical comedy is my mainstay in theater. Just off the top of my head: Steve Coogan is a superb physical actor (his drunk on roller skates is unbeatable) He is well within range of Buster Keaton's world. The writing is smart, well-paced, knowledgable about teen-agers, and surprisingly free of salacious humor that usually begs for the lowest common denominator these days. (If all this sounds like too much praise for a film comedy, then you haven't seen enough trash onscreen!) Loved it. D. Harscheid

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