The Bat Cave

Hamlet 2 is a film that almost every one skipped while it was playing in theaters, as evidenced by it’s whopping $4.8 million domestic gross during its theatrical run. I’ve been seeing trailers for this movie for a while now, however, and I’ve always thought it looked kind of funny and the plot sounded so ludicrous I couldn’t help myself. It’s important to realize that you’re watching a satire of a genre–down on luck teacher inspires tough crowd of students (think Dangerous Minds)–and keep in mind that this film is a parody that should not be taken seriously. It will help your overall enjoyment if you watch it with this mindset. I thought that would be a strong chance I’d start this film and never finish it, but I was sold as soon as Steve Coogan’s drama teacher is near tears after listening to yet another scathing review from his nemesis, the school critic, who happens to be a 12 year old boy that misuses vocabulary and often times doesn’t even make sense in his writing. It’s quite funny to see a grown man’s hopes and dreams legitimately affected by a critic that hasn’t even started growing armpit hair.

I’m going to keep this review short and end by stating that Hamlet 2 is a decent comedy in the parody genre. It succeeds in ways that films like Disaster Movie and Superhero Movie continually fail at (i.e. being funny). We’ve all seen this formula before, so the plot doesn’t offer much in the way of originality or surprises, but I found it to be an enjoyable film overall. If you decide to skip it, however, you’re not going to be missing out on a whole lot either.

5.5 out of 10 (Worth Watching/Recommended)