"Hamlet 2"

Directed by: Andrew Fleming

Starring: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette, Elisabeth Shue, Joseph Julian Soria, Michael Esparza

Rated: R (for adult language) Running time: 93 minutes

Best suited for: social lampooners, the sophomorically minded (and I mean that in a good way)

Least suited for: the mainstay, the traditional, the normal

Midway through "Hamlet 2," actor Marco Rodriguez, playing a disgruntled parent watching his son perform in the premiere of play-within-a-film "Hamlet 2," turns to his wife and says (I'm paraphrasing), "It's so horrible and yet somehow also strangely compelling."

Which is pretty much "Hamlet 2" (the film) in a nutshell. You're either going to "go with it"— which means you'll laugh at its outlandish, sometimes crude silliness—or you're going to hate it by virtue of concept alone, in which case it's safe to stop reading now. Most of what follows is guarded praise for a film I'm still not certain I completely understand.

I've heard some claim that "Hamlet 2" is deliberately offensive—yet I found that to be untrue. The film was co-written by a "South Park" writer/producer, Pam Brady (with director Andrew Fleming), and while "South Park" has its offensive moments, I dare anyone to argue that the series is not an astute and brutally accurate commentary on America—our fears, prejudices and hang-ups.

"Hamlet 2" attempts that same derisive humor. Some call it satire. Others call it stupid. It's one of those eye-of-the-beholder calls.

I'll admit that it takes a little while to properly digest Steve Coogan in the film. He plays a failed actor turned heartfelt but hopelessly naive high school drama teacher. Coogan is a cross between Jason Segel ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") and Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame), and in "Hamlet 2," one must adjust to Coogan's performance.

It isn't that he's a bad comedic actor; it's that he's portraying Dana Marschz, a poor actor and even worse drama coach. He's no great shakes at screenwriting either—but that's what "Hamlet 2" is all about. Follow the dream, hopeful Thespians, not the critical voices.

Marschz finds himself teaching in Tucson—apparently where actors go when Hollywood no longer beckons. Elisabeth Shue, playing Elisabeth Shue, astutely makes this point.

But even in Tucson, success is fleeting. Marschz falls victim to budget cuts, his future bleak. In a last desperate act of misguided creativity, he pens "Hamlet 2"— yes, a sequel—featuring a time machine, Jesus Christ and various current politicians. Oh, and it's also a musical. The play is doomed to failure the same way that "Springtime for Hitler" ("The Producers") was doomed to fail— and yet many of us know what happened there.

Which is a nifty segue to my saying that if you liked "The Producers" and its satirical thrust at most things sacred (back in '68), then I suspect you'll find "Hamlet 2" oddly, obscurely and unrepentantly funny.

I do suspect, however, that the majority of normal folk (here in '08) won't appreciate the humor. You know who you are, and I know that you know that you'll stay away like this one has the measles. And that's okay, too.

Myself, having a strangely incongruent funny bone, usually lean more toward witty repartee than bumps on the head (more Marx Brothers than Laurel and Hardy). I'm just not easily amused by those things juvenile and slapstick. Yet occasionally along comes a silly little juvenile or slapstick film like "Hamlet 2" and— well, I just can't help myself. Personally, I think it's marvelous.

"Hamlet 2" takes on ethnic prejudices (the result is friendship) and the acting craft (this one's a better parody of Hollywood than "Tropic Thunder") and deals with Christianity with relative delicacy, offering us an interpretation of Christ as a modernday celebrity (think "Godspell" or "Superstar").

The film is tougher on Shakespeare—arguing that one of literature's greatest tragedies offers us not even a glimmer of hope. (Few of "Hamlet's" characters survive the final curtain.) In "Hamlet 2" that silver lining exists. Second chances happen. Hope floats.

I can't help but like that kind of message in a film. Even when we sometimes laugh at those things we're not expected to (or supposed to) laugh about.