Movies

Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) is a failed actor and recovering alcoholic who is teaching high school drama in Tucson. He's plagued by bad reviews by a little kid, his class is being canceled next semester, most of his students aren't interested in drama, and his wife Brie (Catherine Keener) is trying to get pregnant. He's desperate to revive his class so he decides to blow everyone away with an original play Hamlet 2, an inappropriate sequel to the Shakespeare play.Steve Coogan is hilariously pathetic and clueless. Elisabeth Shue does a funny cameo as herself. There are some really sadly pathetic funny moments. You just can't stop laughing at Steve. Everything is played up to its wacky craziness. Almost everybody is way over the top especially Steve Coogan. This is his movie all the way thru. Although Hamlet 2 actually need to be crazier.

The biggest surprise of my weekend was Hamlet 2. It's a stupid concept that went all the way round back to genius again. Great movie. Hilarious performances from Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener and Elisabeth Shue. Clever when it needed to be, sincere at times, and out and out stupid-funny in the best way at other times.I guess a big concern with this movie is mindless vulgarity, which I personally have no problem with, but there's really none of that here. Sure, the main writer worked on South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut, and Team America - but Hamlet 2 has a lo more charm.I gave it a 9. It does what a comedy is supposed to do - made me laugh out loud several times!

Damn. This was funny. I love Steve Googan from all his UK performances ans finally he was given a proper vehicle to make US audiences laugh out loud. What made this so funny was its satire of traditional dramatic elements in movies (Stand and Deliver, etc), as well as its blatant parody of the quickly burned out "Indie Darling" comedies like "Little Miss Sunshine" et al. Sure, the finale's song wasn't the best of the lot (although I still find myself singing it over a week later!) but the rest of the gags and songs (especially the "Face" song!) were classic. It was refreshing to see a screwball comedy that doesn't rely on toilet humor or "realistic" scenarios to drive a joke home. This was just pure silly fun, ans Coogan can pull that off with the best of them, if not better.