Review: "Hamlet 2" racks up gay-friendly laughs

And in case you hadn't picked up on it from this review or the poster, which proudly proclaims, "One high school drama teacher is about to make a huge number 2," Hamlet 2 is absolutely filthy. Not in terms of nudity (there's none aside from Coogan's pasty bum) but in terms of language, which will have your jaw in your lap within minutes. The film also has an equal-opportunity approach to skewering revered literary, religious and historical figures, as Jesus, Hamlet, Einstein, Hitler, the President, and Satan all share the stage during the show-within-a-show.

But much like South Park, the film works because it runs on two parallel tracks: yes, it's profane, but it also has heart. Dana's journey toward legitimacy and self-realization is as wonderfully engaging as that of any other dreamer who's blissfully unaware that he's out of his league (Corky Saint Clair from Waiting for Guffman, the all-too-real Mark Borchardt of American Movie), and it grounds all the F-bombs, race jokes and religious blasphemy.

It's also refreshing to see a buffoon of a male drama teacher whose sexuality isn't called into question. In the hands of another director, Dana's across-the-board confusion (seriously, the guy can't do anything right) would likely have nudged into his sexuality, leading to all sorts of gay panic gags that might tie his general ineptitude to his unrealized sexuality. But here he's clearly and unwaveringly straight, meaning that folks won't leave the theatre snickering about the stupid drama teacher who "was probably a homo, anyway."

It might sound like a minor thing to mention, but not if you're tired of closeted gayness being thrown atop a pyre of other "shortcomings" for an easy laugh.

Coogan and Elisabeth Shue, as herself

Seriously, I don't know what more I can say, because my notes from the screening are for the most part unprintable if we don't want to lose our advertisers. If you're not offended by vulgarity and love good camp and an edgy sensibility, you'll love Hamlet 2, a joke-a minute lampoon of tortured artists that has a finale that shouldn't be missed.

If you're not into that kind of humor ... well, you probably haven't made it this far into the review, anyway. But for those of us who like a good belly-laugh with a healthy side of schadenfreude, Hamlet 2 is like a gift from the movie gods.

I think even Bill Shakespeare himself might be giggling in his grave.