The Hamlet 2 Post

The real tragedy here is that Hamlet 2, as a comedy is not as funny as the tragedy it’s based on. This is one of those movies where if you have seen the commercial you have latterly seen all it has to offer. There is nothing that brought a smile to my face that I hadn’t seen in the ads, and while that is to be expected somewhat with most films, this movie really did pour all the chuckles into a 30 second spot- which tells you something about the remaining 1 hr 30 min.

I will say that the movie deserves some recognition for the charming character interactions between Katherine Keener and David Arquette’s ‘Gary’. The conversations between the two are priceless and do ad some level of depth to the otherwise cardboard characters. Everyone else on screen is written and acted to fulfill a specific role in the film and does nothing to seem like a believable, likable or even very funny addition to the cast. The real shame is with Steve Coogan though, who as the lead is as unbalanced and random as Homer Simpson as far as teetering between quirky and absentminded to downright retarded. This imbalance makes it hard to find him funny and makes the plot borderline irrelevant by the half-way-point.

It seems the whole movie was geared around the Jesus musical at the end, which while funny, isn’t worth the build up and drudgery leading up to it. Unfortunately the only thing that will be remembered about this movie is the catchy interlude “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” and that’s only because I cant get the annoying chorus out of my head.