The film Hamlet 2 written by Andrew Fleming and Pam Brady and directed by Andrew Fleming was released August 22, 2008. The film starred Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette, and Elizabeth Shue. The production budget for the film was $9 million dollars (Mojo, 2016). During the limited release weekend the film opened in 103 theaters and brought in $439,925 (Mojo, 2016). When the film opened to a far greater audience of 1597 theaters on August 27, the film brought in $1,698,820 (Mojo, 2016). The total lifetime gross for the movie was $4,925,288 and of that figure, the domestic audience of the United Sates accounted for 99.2% (Mojo , 2016). The film was in release for 42 days and closed on October, 2, 2008 (Mojo, 2016).
The movie, Hamlet 2, is based on Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) turning from a life as an actor for tv infomercials to that of a high school drama teacher. When his drama class is threatened to be cancelled due to budget cuts, Dana decides to pen a play based on the on Hamlet. This does not sit well with the schools administration or the towns people. They try to stop the play from being performed but Dana , along with his class of students that couldn’t get into any other electives put the show on in an abandoned warehouse.
The reviews form IMDb came in at 6.4 out of 10 (IMDb, 2016). It seems that 15,090 IMDb users rated the movie When looking at the voter demographics on IMDb, it was surprising to see that males made up the majority of voters with 10,895 (IMDb, 2106). When looking at the IMDb reviews I have found the following reviews that gave the film that gave the film anywhere form 10 stars to 2 stars for comparison sake. The first review is from a user that gave the film 10 stars: : “Like a lot of independent comedies of recent years, Hamlet 2 is very quirky, offbeat and different. I think that is what I liked so much about it. I do admit that there were some pretty good mainstream comedies that have come out this summer, but the originality and the fact that this film was so over the top, but in a purely entertaining and goofy way I think I may have had just as much fun watching this film as some of the other really good films of this year. There are also some catchy and very humorous musical numbers in the film as well plus a cameo which I will not give away, but is actually written quite brilliantly (IMDb, 2016). The next review is from a user that gave the film 2 stars: “This movie started out very promisingly but then completely lost its momentum. By the time you get to the Big Show you're so bored you just don't care. And the Big Show just isn't scathing or outrageous enough to be shocking. In order for a story like this to work, it has to be grounded in a believable "reality" (the world of the movie);but from the get-go you just don't buy it, and the whole thing falls apart. And the lead here (Coogan) is just too creepy to care for. Everyone else is just nasty and self-serving. Elizabeth Shue is there in the service of an idea that is never interestingly developed. That's the problem with this whole movie. You can tell the people who wrote and directed it thought it was way more clever, scabrous, and funny then it actually is. You shouldn't be sitting there in the theater counting the plot holes, flaws, and inconsistencies. Kind of kills the magic (IMDb, 2016). As you can see there were people on both sides of the fence on this movie. For the two reviews I chose you can see the great disparity in tastes. For a more balanced review I have included the following 6 star review that is more reasonable in my opinion. The film was entertain , yet had its flaws: “The bottom line, though, is that the movie would be an abysmal failure, devoid of laughs and, well, interest, if it weren’t for the requisite performance at the ending. Even though you know it’s coming - hey, the entire movie’s been building up to it - the result is so wonderful, so perfectly apt, and so outstanding in every way that it makes up for the previous hour or so of kvetching and overacting. See, unless these denouements operate on all cylinders, an entire movie will collapse (IMDb, 2016). In my opinion this is the most fair review of the three I have included. There are flaws and they are pointed out in this review. The reviewer explains that the film redeemed itself with its ending although the viewer knew it was coming.
Now let’s look at what the critics that get paid for their opinions had to say. Ben Mankiewicz from “At the Movies” had this to say, “The funniest Shakepearean sequel since Richard IV” (Rotten Tomatoes, 2106). Roger Ebert had this to say, “The movie is an ideal showcase for the talents of Coogan” (Rotten Tomatoes, 2016). It is interesting to see that the movie had quite a few positive reviews; however, the following reviews were not very positive. Elizabeth Weitman of the New York Daily News had the following to say about the movie, “Fortunately, Coogan remains impressively unafraid of humiliation, pushing every joke just far enough to keep us watching. But he deserves more (Rotten Tomatoes, 2016). The Miami Herald must not have liked the film. They had the following to say, “The real tragedy here is that someone might actually pay to see this dull mess of a movie” (Rotten Tomatoes, 2016). Lastly, lets take look at this from Amy Biancolli from the Houston Chronicle, “The more self-righteous it gets -- the more pious it is about offending people -- the less it works as a theatrical parody (Rotten Tomatoes, 2106). As you can see you get both likes and dislikes of this movie. The average rating on Rotten Tomatoes was 5.8 out of 10 (Rotten Tomatoes, 2016).
The film was a box office failure despite relatively positive reviews from both audiences and critics. The film lost upwards of $4 million. Reviews of the film were both positive and negative but the average scores on IMDb were 6.4 out of 10 while the Rotten Tomatoes site had the film’s average score at 5.8 out of 10.
Works Cited
“Hamlet 2 (2008) - Box Office Mojo." Hamlet 2 (2008) - Box Office Mojo. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.
“Hamlet 2 (2008) - Rotten Tomatoes.” Hamlet 2 (2008) - Rotten Tomatoes, Web. 19 Mar, 2016.
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