Hamlet 2 Review

Last night, I finally figured out what the original Hamlet was missing, Jesus and a time machine. Add those small changes and you have Hamlet 2, a bastard child of South Park antics and classic poetry. What this film lacks in vulgarity, it absolutely makes up for in absurdity. I was surprised to find that I was seeing an unrated version of the film; although, its vulgarity puts it nowhere beyond an R rating, in my book at least. It seems that making fun of Jesus automatically gets you a NR these days. Of course, ratings by the MPAA are completely objective (may I recommend This Film is Not Yet Rated).

Hamlet 2 chronicles the struggles of Dana Marschz (Coogan), a failure of an actor, who’s attempts at theatre success result in horrible high school adaptations of Hollywood films (Erin Brockovich for example). When Marschz discovers that his beloved drama department is floundering, his effort to revive it results in the epic Hamlet 2, a play which, for apparent reasons, brings much controversy to the high school and receives great backlash from the community. With the aid of a misfit bunch of students (I smell Sister Act), Marschz embarks on a journey to save drama and teach his students the value of Shakespeare.

The entire film builds up to a grand play including but not limited to; Hamlet, a time machine, Jesus, flying sword battles, and a gay mens’ choir. Unfortunately, the film spends so much time leading up to the play, it forgets to show more than five or ten minutes of it. With all of this buildup, I expected gory violence, gratuitous nudity, and extremely pervasive language, and what I received was slightly disappointing. Don’t get me wrong; with songs like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” and something involving getting “raped in the face,” the play was extremely entertaining, just not as pervasive as I had hoped.

So, see in theaters, buy, rent, download illegally? I’d definitely suggest renting. While the film is not quite worth shelling out $20 for a ticket and some nachos, it’s definitely worth a rent, if not simply to say that you’ve seen a movie that depicts Jesus in jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt, spouting off such gems as, “If my father knew about this, he’d crucify me.” Hamlet 2 is in theaters now, but if you’re smart, you’ll wait for it to hit Blockbuster or Netflix in a few months.