Tucson: the setting of “Hamlet 2,” and the place where dreams go to die. So proclaims the sporadic and unnecessary narrator at the beginning of the film. The dreamer on the verge of a rude awakening is Dana Marschz (pronounced “Marsh-z-z-z”), a failed actor turned drama teacher at a high school on the unfortunate side of town.
At one point, Marschz’s main critic/nemesis asks whether his penchant for staging adaptations of popular Hollywood films is due to a keen sense of irony, or lamentable poor taste. And so the viewer wonders of the film itself.
With “Hamlet 2,” director/co-writer Andrew Fleming walks the line between hilarious and hilariously bad. It’s a solid hour and a half of drama clich’eacute;s.
Marschz, played by Steve Coogan, is trying desperately to work through his daddy issues, his marital issues, his financial issues and his lack-of-talent issues, all the while sporting a frightful red bob, pasty skin and, more often than not, a caftan.
There’s also Epiphany, the struggling young actress who prays for more racial tolerance but is still uncomfortable around “ethnics.” Her partner in crimes against good theater, Rand, struggles to come to terms with his ambiguous sexuality.
One day Marschz arrives at school to find his drama class, once comprising just Epiphany and Rand, is suddenly full – of Latino students. Octavio, known for most of the film by the name he gives Marschz on the first day, “Heywood,” is the tough guy with the gangster persona, who secretly gets straight As and has undeniable talent as an actor.
The rest of the students are typical Latino Hollywood stereotypes and one white stoner who just wants everyone to loosen up a bit. The Man is represented by the grizzled old principal who tries to shut down Marschz’s play and his drama department.
The film is riddled with predictable slapstick comedy – either a subtle commentary on Hollywood’s trend toward cheap laughs, or an attempt to cash in on the technique’s popularity. It only works, however, when it’s accompanied by a touch of wit.
Marschz frequently falls down while roller skating, but the only time it really feels funny is when he cries out, “Gravel, you are the bane of my existence!” while attempting to skate down several hundred yards of gravel-paved drive and when it becomes apparent that he is wearing skates, as if roller blades would be too much for him to handle.
The character really is that pathetic. When the new students question the authenticity of Marschz’s serious freak-out, the teacher’s pet blurts out that “he’s not that good.”
Possibly sterile, totally broke and unquestionably a failure, Marschz is lame to a fault. Coogan’s hammy acting in scenes where Marschz is performing is natural, but his continued hamminess throughout the film is less apropos. Unless, of course, it’s intentional – a mirror of the character’s own struggle.
“Hamlet 2” continually calls attention to itself in this way. For instance, Marschz tells his group of unruly, racially diverse students that he recently watched “Dangerous Minds,” a film where another white teacher has to figure out how to get through to her group of tough inner-city kids.
The film takes its name from and centers on the main character’s opus, which Marschz is prompted to write in order to save the drama department and his career. The titular “Hamlet 2” is a hot mess of a play, peopled by Sexy Jesus and Albert Einstein, both portrayed by Marschz, as well as a host of greasers, young Marschz and his parents. The play is controversial, but it’s also utterly awful.
Predictably, the God-fearing, morally upright townsfolk try to shut it down. Marschz and his band of misfit students manage to put the play on in spite of all this adversity, owing to their determination, perseverance and street smarts. And equally predictably, the play turns out to be a raging success, swaying the hearts and minds of those upright, uptight townsfolk with catchy songs like “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus” and touching moments of forgiveness.
In addition to the main thread of Marschz’s underdog shot at greatness, there is a secondary storyline revolving around Marschz’s marital issues with his alcoholic, ex-pot dealer wife, aptly played by Catherine Keener, and their barely even one-dimensional roommate, Gary.
Portrayed by David Arquette, Gary has only a few lines throughout the film and although one of these provides one of the few genuine laughs, the character comes off as little more than scenery. The story arc as a whole feels like filler and is again totally clich’eacute; and foreseeable.
Despite its numerous faults, “Hamlet 2” does have some merit. Elizabeth Shue, who befriends Marschz through her new job as a nurse (the actress plays herself, but in the film, she’s grown sick of Hollywood and run off to Tucson), is about as wonderful as the star-struck Marschz believes her to be. A scene where Marschz tries to work through his writer’s block rings true to anyone who’s ever had to struggle with that issue and Amy Poehler as Cricket “I married a Jew” Feldstein, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who rushes to defend Marschz’s First Amendment rights, manages to get a few funny lines in.
On the whole, however, “Hamlet 2″comes off as self-conscious as a pudgy 13-year-old at her first school dance. Every other thing in the film is self-reflexive. Fleming tries to comment on supposedly bad Hollywood trends, while simultaneously trying to use those same trends to his advantage. It’s either a rather intellectual film tinged with self-mocking irony, or it’s just another cheap, typical mainstream offering. Either way, it fails to truly impress.
Morgan Meagher can be reached at [email protected].