Hamlet 2 is Original and Funny
WOSU Film Critics Joyce and Rico Long review "Hamlet 2."

by Rico and Joyce Long

RICO LONG GIVES "HAMLET 2" 4 STARS
****

As I was viewing this film, I thought of School of Rock, Borat and Napoleon Dynamite. They are all irreverent, politically incorrect and funny films. There might be something to offend you, especially if you are a fundamental Christian, but basically, the film is hilarious.

Coogan, who didn't fare too well in "Tropic Thunder", plays a very quirky high-school drama teacher - where he conceives and directs a musical version of Hamlet - Hamlet 2. His premise is that no one really died in the original play.

His class is another bunch of misfits who require unconventional motivation teaching methods. The film set in Tucson, AZ is actually filmed pretty much in Albuquerque, NM.

We saw it with a college age crowd, and they reacted very much like the audience we saw Borat with. They howled with laughter. You might too. I should explain, I found the Royal Tennenbaums pretty funny too. I discovered not all share my sense of humor.


JOYCE LONG GIVES "HAMLET 2" 3 1/2 STARS
***1/2

This film is just outrageous. A guilty pleasure. It does have a lot of bad language-- less would have been better. But the premise of the story is a positive one overall and is cleverly done.

Coogan is so bizarre and off-the-wall funny that I often my mouth kept dropping open. He's a unique talent.

Coogan's character is mostly a loser, of course, as an actor, a writer, and a teacher, but his desperate attempt to save the drama department at his high school by writing the most politically incorrect musical sequel to Hamlet manages to offend it's audience on the one hand, but bring them to their feet in outraged delight on the other.

If you are easily offended, forget this one.

It is an original, though.


FILM: Hamlet 2
DIRECTOR: Andrew Fleming
CAST INCLUDES: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue
GENRE: Comedy
LENGTH: 92 minutes
RATED: R

WOSU Film Critics Joyce and Rico Long can be heard Fridays at 12:35pm during NPR's "Day To Day" on WOSU 820.

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