Philadelphia Weekly

You've heard of the comedy of embarrassment; now get ready for Steve Coogan's comedy of abject ghastly mortification.

After several failed attempts (did anyone even see Around the World in 80 Days?), the Brit-com superstar has barely made a dent on these shores, but folks tuned into BBC America undoubtedly know Coogan for his exquisitely agonizing chat-show creation, Alan Partridge. This blazer-clad buffoon with a penchant for pomposity and lady-boys has been suffering unspeakable indignities on both the telly and radio for the past 15 years, so it's about time Coogan got around to conjuring up an American counterpart.

A bit crasser and more garish than Alan Partridge, long-suffering Tuscon high school drama teacher Dana Marschz boasts undistinguished resume full of infomercials and ads for herpes medication. But his real passion lies in staging sparsely attended stage adaptations of Hollywood blockbusters. Tired of receiving withering reviews from the school newspaper's merciless theater critic (a poker-faced tweener played with deadpan aplomb by Shea Pepe), Marschz sits down to finally create something original--an all-encompassing magnum opus that will not just save West Mesa High's endangered drama program, but also change the lives of all involved. Hence, Hamlet 2.

Directed by Andrew Fleming from a script he co-wrote with South Park scribe Pam Brady, Hamlet 2 is chock-full of overscaled comic notions that probably looked better on paper than they play on-screen. But the movie works best as a vehicle for Coogan's slow-dawning humiliation, providing a constant stream of circumstances in which his mile-wide oblivious smile can incrementally creep downward at the corners, his eyes drooping with the too-late realization of his own unwitting jackassery.

For every barn-sized gag that falls flat (male nudity is such an easy crutch for comedy these days), Coogan is able to sneak in one or two gorgeously offhand grace notes, like a deliciously condescending conversation with a process server attempting to deliver a subpoena, because a smile costs nothing extra. (Guess you had to be there.)

He's got plenty of help from the game supporting cast, including Catherine Keener as Marschz's miserable wife. Granted, this is Keener's 115th rendition of her patented bitch-on-wheels routine, but the fact remains that she's still better at it than anybody else in the business, and the vehemence with which she tears into him after a couple of fishbowl-sized margaritas is sort of amazing.

There's also a deftly underplayed turn by Broadway star Skylar Astin as an overzealous, sexually confused drama student misinterpreting mixed signals from his flamboyant teacher.

The best sport in all of this is Elisabeth Shue, co-starring as herself and explaining away her recent lack of career momentum by explaining she's quit acting, moved to Tuscon and become a nurse. Drifting dangerously close to the "it's funny because it's true" dictum, not even her agent remembers who she is anymore.

As in his disappointing Watergate spoof Dick, which squandered the bright comic notion that Deep Throat was actually a couple of bubble-headed interns played by Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams, director Fleming tends to err on the side of volume. With an unfortunate fondness for cartoonish wide-angle cinematography, he blows up most jokes two or three sizes larger than they probably needed to be.

But strangely enough, this weakness becomes a strength when it comes time to finally present Mr. Marschz's opus. The film is a wobbly ride for the first hour and change, but all sins are quickly forgiven once the curtain rises on Hamlet 2. It's an epic glizty craptacular of breathtakingly awful tastelessness, during which Jesus Christ himself (naturally played by Marschz) borrows his dad's time machine in order to rescue all those characters who died at the end of Hamlet 1.

Not even the lightsaber fight between Hamlet and Laertes can top the tacky, magnificent grandeur of watching Coogan moonwalk on water during the insidiously catchy musical showstopper "Rock Me Sexy Jesus."

Hamlet 2 could do with less pratfalls and more discipline, but it's got a wowser of a final reel, and it provides the States with a fitting, if belated, introduction to Coogan's genius. So let's get cracking on that long-rumored Alan Partridge movie already.