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Dead Playwright's Society

As the end of summer 2008 approaches, you can count on two things: (1) Pineapple Express scoring instant box-office booty, and (2) Hamlet 2 earning cult-like sleeper status. Yeah, we’ve got a soft spot for the latter, Sundance-launched comedy. Any movie that stars Steve Coogan, Amy Poehler, Catherine Keener and Elisabeth Shue, features a gay men’s choir singing “Maniac,” and a musical finale called “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” earns the Modern Tonic seal of approval. So click here for a chance to score free screening passes and cool swag, plus stream some cheeky Hamlet 2 dance remixes (see sidebar)

“My life is a parody of a tragedy,” bellows protagonist Dana Marschz (pronounced mar-shhh-zzz), as played by the brilliant Coogan (24 Hour Party People). A failed actor, Marschz stages bad plays at a high school in Tucson, until budget cuts threaten to kill the drama department and his job. But when the school bans his theatrical swan song – a sequel to Shakespeare’s great work that involves a time machine, a moonwalking Jesus and lots of s-e-x — Marschz becomes national news.

Perhaps Hamlet 2 isn’t everyone’s spot of tea — it’s a quirky, masterfully ridiculous affair that can make you laugh harder the day after you see it. But to paraphrase The Bard himself, “This one’s a grower.”


Hamlet 2 opens August 22 from Focus Features.