Hamlet 2
In a summer that’s been pretty weak on comedies (It’s been a pretty weak YEAR, really, aside from Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Hamlet 2 is far and away the best. It sucks that this movie isn’t going to get anywhere near the attention that, say, Pineapple Express has. Because Pineapple Express was pretty terrible where Hamlet 2 is actually really awesome.
Seriously. You’re not going to believe me, I know, but this was a great absurdist comedy. It’s like a Christopher Guest movie except a little but dumber. But where Guest’s mockumentaries take more of a subtle, consistently-amusing tone, Hamlet 2 is a bunch of rapid-fire attempts at big, giant laughs. Some of the attempts miss and just come off as stupid. But some of them are totally awesome. And that makes all the difference.
Steve Coogan is great. (His American accent holds until the very end, where he does a quick impersonation of Jeremy Irons and you’re like “Hold on — you’re British!”) The music is phenomenal. “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” is going to get all the attention, but “Raped in the Face” and the awesome version of “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” deserve kudos as well. It looks like this movie is going to make about four dollars at the box office, which is really a shame. So go see it. Do your part.
A million stars.