Year: 2008                                          Release Date:  August 27, 2008

Written by: Pam Brady & Andrew Fleming

Starring:  Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Phoebe Strole, Joseph Soria, Elisabeth Shue

            Overall, a pretty funny movie.  It starts with a montage of the not so stellar acting career of Dana Marschz (Coogan) and serializes his acting class from stage remakes of popular movies to his opus “Hamlet 2.”  Inspired by the school board’s decision to end the drama program, Marschz writes the sequel to Hamlet as a musical.  The highlight of the movie is actually the main musical number to the play “Rock Me Sexy Jesus.”

            Two great sub-plots were the appearance Elisabeth Shue from The Karate Kid and Leaving Las Vegas playing the part of Elisabeth Shue.  Another is the appearance of the always funny Amy Poehler playing an ACLU lawyer determined to make sure Hamlet 2 is shown to an audience despite the school’s determination to shut it down.

            I give it a high recommendation to see it in the theater.  I’m giving it 4 stars as a movie and 3 gavels because even though I liked the legal part of the movie, it was only 10 minutes of the entire plot.

4 Stars

3 Gavels