Film Review: “Hamlet 2”

Dana Marschz, a failed actor turned failing drama teacher in Tucson, AZ, tries to contend with the closing of his department by putting on his magnum opus/musical sequel, “Hamlet 2.” What follows is a witty but uneven parody of “uplifting teacher films” and gaudy musicals. Coogan, a Brit comedian who has been cropping up a lot recently, carries the movie pretty well, with baffled cluelessness and boundless, blind enthusiasm as his main tools. The supporting cast is strong, though underutilized. Keener, as Coogan’s fertility-obsessed wife, is delightfully nasty, and watch for an odd turn by Elisabeth Shue, playing a jaded, actor-turned-nurse version of herself. The humor is luckily more hit than miss, with a fair share of the brunt going towards Tucson itself (“where dreams go to die”). The “uplifting teacher” parody breaks down at the end when it becomes an uplifting teacher movie, but by then the unabashed silliness of the staging of “Hamlet 2” has stolen the movie. Inconsistent, but entertaining.