REVIEW: Hamlet 2
“My life is a parody of a tragedy!”
Hamlet 2 takes the conventions of “inspirational teacher movies” such as Dangerous Minds and Dead Poet’s Society and turns them on their head in a delightfully funny way. In this film instead of being the saving grace of a group of misguided students, the teacher Mr. Dana Marschz is a loser with a capital L. He is a failed actor turned high school drama teacher who can’t get a good review in the school newspaper to save his life. His home life isn’t much better. He can’t get his wife pregnant, he can’t afford a car, and he has some serious unresolved daddy issues.
In this amusing and charming parody the only saving grace Mr. Marschz seems to have is two devoted drama students, Rand and Epiphany who are stereotypical theatre pupils. Rand is an effeminate closeted homosexual, who also happens to be slightly homophobic (classic “Me thinks thou doth protest too much” syndrome.) Epiphany is the archetypal obnoxious ingénue who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of subtly in acting. Former high school drama students can certainly find themselves reminded of individuals from their own theatre departments that seemed to always get cast despite their lack of talent. A good life lesson: it pays to be teacher’s pet.
Due to some extenuating circumstances this trimester’s drama class is full! Not just full, but full of Hispanic kids which their new teacher assumes are underprivileged and troubled. (In actuality, one of the young men’s, Octavio, father has a Ph.D. in Literature and lives in a rather nice home.) Marschz manages to get on the new students’ good side with some rather unconventional and inappropriate, although comedic tactics such as taking them out to a mall arcade and hitting one of the girls in his class with a trash can to teach them about “shared experience.”
Predictably, the school principle announces the drama department is being cut due to funding (a rather relevant subject in Texas right now, no?) and it is now the kids’ mission to Save Drama! Mr. Marschz writes Hamlet 2, a sequel to the bloody Shakespearean tragedy full of time travel, sexual innuendo and even the return of Jesus Christ. Of course the school won’t allow them to put the show on, but the kids step up to make it happen ironically with hardly any help from their director.
Here is where the big flip comes. Eventually Dana Marschz decides it is time to give up on the project, resigning himself as a washed up actor with nothing good going for him. The students give him the inspirational speech about not giving up on their dreams.
The play goes on and is as ridiculous as it has sounded up to this point. The main number of the show, “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” is hilarious combination of Grease, Godspell and Rent and manages to offend and entertain simultaneously.
The movie ends with Mr. Marschz and students on Broadway with their gem of a show.
“It doesn’t matter how much talent we lack, as long as we have enthusiasm!”
This fantastic cast of actors certainly are not lacking in talent. British actor Steve Coogan makes an amusingly clueless Mr. Marschz and delivers the most outrageous of lines with an expert dead-pan sensibility. The charming, young cast of drama students works as a strong ensemble to fill out the story. Phoebe Strole is an adorable and obnoxious Epiphany with a surprisingly good singing voice. Skylar Astin shines with his fully committed depiction of the gay suck-up Rand and has an impressive stage presence that is obvious even on film. Playing herself, Elisabeth Shue is simply delightful on screen and is more than willing to poke fun of herself, which is almost always endearing in celebrity.
Andrew Fleming steers this big, absurdly funny spoof with a great sense of youthful fun that is equally as charming as the cast.
The design elements of the movie are spot on. Particularly effective are the sets for the plays being shown. The Eric Brockowich set, for example, is convincing as a high school set. The same can be said for the costuming of the play parts. The Hamlet 2 (the play) set, lighting and other technical aspects are very impressive considering they have been put together by a bunch of high school students. The play’s design elements are the quality of a full Broadway production, which while unrealistic, adds to the folly of both the play and the film.
While Hamlet 2, the movie, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, this theatre lover likes it more every time she watches it!
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