In the chewy centre of Hamlet 2, there’s something brilliant waiting to happen. But like a great thought that finds its way to the tip of your tongue before disappearing forever, what exactly that kernel of brilliance is completely escapes me. Maybe it’s the notion about someone of marginal talent even taking it upon himself to script the follow-up chapter of the greatest tragedy ever written. Better still is the remarkably simple plot device used to salvage the last ten minutes of that play: a time machine where in everybody’s saved and brought to “the present.” They also, somehow, inexplicably pick up Jesus along the way. Now that’s chutzpah. 

The point of Hamlet 2, directed by Andrew Fleming from a script by Fleming and South Park writer Pam Brady, seems to be to make the thing main event as offensive as possible. Maybe it’s my liberal bent, but what’s all the fuss about? I’m more insulted by the fact that “Hamlet 2” seems to be just about the most prosaic of unpredictable high school musicals ever created. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened, as that bald philosopher from Springfield might observe. Sure the central musical number provocatively entitled “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” will get you some scowls and a few old ladies reflexively crossing themselves, but I’ve seen more offensive stuff on Vision TV.

If there’s a salvation to Hamlet 2, it’s the go for broke, comedic performance by Steve Coogan. After small but thankless roles in Night at the Museum and Tropic Thunder, not to mention a well-received but not so well-seen starring role in A Cock and Bull Story, Coogan really gets a chance to shine as actor-turned-drama teacher Dana Marschz (the mispronunciation of his last name, of course, is a running gag). Coogan really throws himself into the part with tremendous enthusiasm and reckless abandon from how he comes off. By themselves, the words, “I feel like I’ve be raped in the face,” sounds like nothing, but with Coogan’s exasperated delivery, as if a high school reporter’s opinion is akin to a thumbs down vote from Caesar, takes it to entirely new levels of resonance.

I wish the same could be said for Catherine Keener though, because she looks really bored played Dana’s put upon wife. Ditto for Elisabeth Shue, whom you’d think might appreciate a meaty, deconstructionist role in a deft post-modern comedy, but then again, that’s not what Hamlet 2 is and that’s not the part she got. Since Shue’s heyday was 80s numbers like Adventures in Babysitting and Cocktail, she just serves as a gatling gag about how the kids don’t know their pop culture heritage. Basically, it all seems kind of silly, yet somehow not as silly as Amy Poehler’s brief turn as an ACLU lawyer, which had so much comedic potential, yet Poehler seems to get short-shrift in the end.

Outside of Coogan’s theatrics, there’s not much here to tantalize. Even simple things like Dana’s creation of plays based on mainstream Hollywood films seems staid, especially since Rushmore’s Max Fischer got there first and, oh yeah, Broadway’s being doing this for real since The Producers opened in 2001. That’s not to say a competently put together stage production of Erin Brockovich wouldn’t be interesting to see but… actually, I take that back. No it wouldn’t. I have about as much interest seeing that as I do in seeing someone actually put on a production of Hamlet 2, or at least if they do, I hope it’s actually funny, and not kind of sad with an element of that’s crazy.