Hamlet 2

[BillBrasky]

As I recall, YoungAmerican wrote about this on the old board and didn't really like it that much. I saw it last night and I thought it was pretty good. There were a few sort of juvenile, "South Park" type jokes (no surprise, the cowriter was Pam Brady, who was a writer on "South Park" for many years). But for the most part, I found it intelligently written and fairly clever. Amy Poehler has a funny role as an ACLU lawyer, and Steve Coogan was great as always (and does a pretty convincing American accent).

It had kind of an indie sensibility to it rather than seeming like a studio comedy. Scenes would be going along fairly normally and predictably and then there would be a line that would be really unexpected and sharp that came out of nowhere and made you laugh.
The ads for it admittedly don't make it look that great but give it a chance and I think most people here would enjoy it a lot.

[HeadEgg]

The trailors for this film look awful. With that said I would not be surprised if the movie is actually funny.

[YoungAmerican]

Don't trust Brasky! This was the worst movie I've seen in a long time. I love Steve Coogan, but this movie was like the unfunniest version of Waiting for Guffman ever. I guess it was supposed to be a parody of "Dangerous Minds" type movies? Because the parody didn't work and it was kind of offensive. It's been a couple months, but I can't think of anything I laughed at.

Catherine Keener is very good as usual. Amy Poehler was good, but she had like three lines. The teenagers were horrifically bad.

That's all I've got.

[angryrobot]

Amy Poehler was good, but she had like three lines.

Really? the trailers make it seem like Poehler is the star of the movie, that's a sign of desperation to me. I've yet to see a movie that was funny when the trailers weren't, and the trailers for this movie were bad.

[Babs]

I really want to see it just because the concept is amazing, but yeah I am trying not to get my hopes up. I remember it being at Sundance this last year and a few friends told me it was not very good. I will still see it though because so many things I love are involved but I am trying not to expect much.

[BillBrasky]

I have to admit, going in I wasn't expecting very much at all, but it exceeded my expectations. While it's true that Amy Poehler isn't in it that much, she does nail the few scenes she is in really well. Catherine Keener was also very good; there is one scene with her drinking a huge margarita that really made me laugh a lot.

I'm not sure what you found offensive; I guess maybe the portrayal of the Hispanic kids in the movie? While there were some potentially offensive elements, most of it was played for laughs and, it seemed to me, intended to be ironic racism (a la Sarah Silverman or, actually, "South Park"). And in fact, the movie even addresses this issue when it turns out that

Spoiler:  

the kid that Coogan's character assumes to be a "gang banger" actually turns out to be an Ivy League-bound student whose parents are an acclaimed novelist and a painter

.

Ultimately I thought it worked as a parody of inspirational teacher movies like "Dangerous Minds" because Coogan's character was so obviously insane and completely unfit to be a teacher in the first place. Most of the movie was really made by Coogan's performance; with anyone else in the role, it probably wouldn't have been as good. While it wasn't as good as "Waiting for Guffman", that's setting the bar pretty high, and since I went into it not expecting it to be any good at all, I ended up being surprised that I liked it as much as I did.

[YoungAmerican]

I want to be clear that I have nothing but love for Brasky, who is my AST hero. But I disagree strongly.

[smartbunny]

"Rock Me Sexy Jesus" - just... I don't know. Dumb.

[Umlaut]

I saw this last night at a preview screening and have to agree whole-fartedly with Mr. Thorn (See what I did there? Now I'm ready to write my own indie comedy. (Admittedly I don't remember any fart humor in Hamlet 2 (probably would have classed things up a bit.)))

This movie didn't know what it wanted to be. Every time it would start in one direction (riff on an inspirational teacher movie, high school drama farce, deluded actor faux-character study, satire on American culture a la (later seasons) South Park) it would all of a sudden lurch a completely different direction that totally undermined the tone it just took. So I had a strange sensation throughout the movie where I wasn't sure if I loved it or hated it. After the movie, I spent a few minutes crying and rocking back and forth in my seat shouting "I need an adult!" and then decided I hated it. I don't know what this thing was. It did have potential to be quite good or even great, if just a modicum of thought or substance had been put into it. Instead it's just kind of frustrating and may or may not fill you with a murderous rage.

If I had paid to see it, I probably would have gotten that murderous rage.

[BillBrasky]

The Onion liked it.

[Truth Movement]

The Onion liked it.

I love the AVclub, I really do, but I'm realizing more and more that I can't put too much stock in their reviews. Very often they totally get it wrong in their reviews (Their Lars And The Real Girl review is way off). They loved Tropic Thunder (which I that was only fitfully humorous) and disliked Step Brothers (which, while technically not a good movie, was friggin funny).

Their record reviews are even worse.

[littlegirltree]

I'm having a crisis of Coogan.

[Lil G]

Meh, this was ok. The film wasted Coogan, in my opinion. A few simple rewrites could have done wonders for it.

Coogan made an scheduled appearance at the showing I attended and he provided a great Q&A. It started off a little awkward because the whole room knew he was there, so when the credits came up, everyone felt compelled to applaud, but not to applaud heartily.

[mcpiranhas]

Ain't it Cool made the claim that this movie has the funniest closing line of the last 15 years. Can anyone confirm/deny/spoil this for me?

**EDIT: Properly spoiled by Brasky. Meh.

[CLOWN]

the "gay" kid in his drama group, played by skylar astin, went to high school with me. we took a drama class together taught by a teacher going through a mid-life crisis having failed at his dream of writing/acting in plays.

is there an emoticon for irony this sweet?

[YoungAmerican]

Ain't it Cool made the claim that this movie has the funniest closing line of the last 15 years. Can anyone confirm/deny/spoil this for me?

**EDIT: Properly spoiled by Brasky. Meh.

No, Brasky's spoiler is about something else. Honestly, I don't remember what the last line of the movie is.

[James Morris]

Just saw it, and it was very funny. Just as good, if not better, than the other summer comedies.

[Osquip]

I saw this a few months ago at a screening and loved it. I don't remember what the last line is either. Anyone want to give it up under a spoiler tag?

[BillBrasky]

The last line is

Spoiler:  

after one of the kids says to Coogan, "It's really exciting being here in New York....It's a lot better than Tuscon", Coogan says "That's the good thing about coming where you came from...no matter where you go for the rest of your life, it's always going to be better than Tuscon".

I think there's probably been a better last line in a movie in the last 15 years.

[J.B.]

Once again I find myself agreeing with Brasky - not a great movie, but I found myself laughing a lot. I was sold on the film's tone the moment Coogan wrote "Inspirational Teacher" illegibly on the whiteboard.