Semi Movie Rec: Hamlet 2

I enjoyed this movie very much, but... well. I'm sort of amazed most of it ever got committed to celluloid. I mean, you have a satire here about race politics, theater, teaching, arts education, celebrity, homosexuality, adultery, rape, and child molestation. Making comedy out of those subjects is a highly tricky task for a screenwriter, and when you tie the satire around the meta-plot of a drama teacher writing his own script for his students' performance in order to save the school's drama budget... I can't help thinking you're out on a limb, script- and story-wise. This is not to say that there weren't some very funny scenes in the movie (the musical number "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus!" and the production of "Hamlet 2" itself are incredibly funny, not to mention the fact that the teacher has based his teaching career around terrible films about teaching like "Dead Poets' Society" and regularly refers to them for teaching tips), but my reaction to the movie was pretty much encapsulated by one of the minor characters in the film who observed as he watched the play, "I am horrified, yet fascinated." That's pretty much it, right there.

And, for the record, whatever you think of her acting ability, Elizabeth Shue is an incredibly good sport.