To be or not to be a spoof of one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies was a decision faced by the creative team behind "Hamlet 2." Alas, the references to the bard are sporadic and sloppy. That leaves a sophomoric comedy with more palpable misses than hits.

The idea behind "Hamlet 2" certainly has giggle-inducing promise. A hammy actor, Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan), isn't getting much work and has been reduced to making embarrassing TV commercials. He takes a job as a drama teacher at West Mesa High School in Tucson, Ariz.

Dana directs student productions derived from big Hollywood movies. From what we see of his own stage version of "Erin Brockovich," he has even less talent than his students. Moreover, they have so little respect for him that most of them simply ignore his pompous speeches about the world of theater. And his plays are even panned by the precocious drama critic of the school paper.

He's also a loser at home. Dana's moody wife, Brie (Catherine Keener), proves as challenging as any stage production; and the financially stressed couple take in a boarder, Gary (David Arquette), who's irritatingly around whenever they don't want him there.

This glum situation heads into crisis mode when the school administration responds with alarm to some of Dana's directorial decisions, which rely on language and situations that are wildly inappropriate for a high school.

The scripters behind "Hamlet 2" have credits including "South Park" and "Team America: World Police" movies, so they're veterans when it comes to such things.

Rather than graciously bowing out of his directing and teaching duties and taking his sorry self elsewhere, Dana defiantly says he will write a sequel to "Hamlet." The fact that most of the characters in Shakespeare's play lie dead on stage at the end of "Hamlet" does not deter him. He conceives of a ludicrous time machine storyline that brings Shakespeare's characters into the 21st century, where they immediately learn to speak like the contemporary high school kids portraying them.

There's certainly "Waiting for Guffman"-style potential in a satire that's so thoroughly immersed in the realm of amateur theatrics, but "Hamlet 2" generally squanders its opportunities. Shakespeare basically falls by the side, and Dana's bizarrely original script is stupid in a way that seems less funny as the play moves through rehearsal and toward opening night.

Instead of developing characters and crafting witty lines, the script all too often resorts to overplayed scenes in which profanity is assumed to be automatically amusing. Coogan has proved he's a gifted comedian, but here he's throwing himself into an underwritten role that has the poor actor looking desperate after a while.

Similarly, there's Capra-esque potential in the story's thematic underpinnings about an idealistic individual who guides misfit students in their attempt to go against boringly bureaucratic school officials. Dana's reasoning is that the media attention generated by the controversy will sell tickets to the show, and ultimately will persuade the school's principal to reverse his decision to fire Dana and eliminate the entire theater program.

There's even an ACLU lawyer, Cricket Feldstein (Amy Poehler), representing Dana and fanning the media flames. Although this plot strand has reliable emotional appeal, it's so cartoonish that you follow it without feeling much of anything.

For all its missed opportunities, the movie has a few bright moments along the way. The juvenile casting is often quite good. Two of the actors portraying high school kids, Skylar Astin and Phoebe Strole, both appeared in the Broadway show "Spring Awakening"; they bring much-needed sincerity to this movie.

And a real Hollywood star, Elisabeth Shue, appears as herself in a plot tangent that's humorously endearing. Although "Hamlet 2" is no great shakes, er, Shakespeare, it has just enough clever bits to make you wish it were a lot better. Grade: C+

"Hamlet 2" (R) opens Friday, Aug. 22, at area theaters.

---

user comments (0)