Having a male drama teacher named Dana Marschz would be strange. Having a male drama teacher named Dana Marschz who dresses in old caftans, has a funny-looking hair-do and roller-skates to work would be even stranger. But having a male drama teacher named Dana Marschz who wears caftans, lets his hair loose, skates to work and lampoons Shakespeare and Jesus would actually be the strangest.

What’s more, Dana Marschz is none other than TV comic Steve Coogan and his “Hamlet 2” role is that of a failed Los Angeles actor in search of resurrecting his long lost career. Therefore, the wannabe artist becomes a wannabe drama teacher, but his teaching skills are even worse than his acting ones. He even admits his life is a “parody of a tragedy,” but it’s not necessary for us to go that far. We can easily notice a parody in his own self, the parody of a human being. However, Steve Coogan makes the best of his nutty character, whose own wife and students dislike him and are flippant in what he is regarded. Furthermore, the print-size critic at the school paper can’t stand the teacher’s work, while the school principal decides to suspend the drama’s program. Everybody is repulsed by the infantile Dana Marschz, but for him, “to act is to live,” so he can’t just give up. Thus, he decides to stage a musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet which hilariously includes the character of Jesus Christ, who has a musical number of his own, “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.” The play is nothing but a wallowing bunch of foolish ideas whose main role is to show that something is wrong with the Denmark of arts education: bad art that is.

Of course this gets the “misunderstood artist” into a lot of trouble, as the school principal is shocked and adds Dana Marschz and his crazy play on the list of the First Amendment “sweethearts”.

The movie does not lack hilarity by any means, but is awfully humdrum in its ineffectual aspiration to rub the wrong way. Moreover, it throws all the tricks up its sleeve going all-out to be positively noticed. That’s the case of Elisabeth Shue, who plays, of course, Elisabeth Shue. The eponymous character gets tired of being an actress (unlike Dana Marschz, who never got up there), and becomes a fertility-clinic nurse in Tucson, where, predictably, the drama teacher lives. She does Dana various favors, including talking to his students about acting, although in a mannerless way.

Nevertheless, Steve Coogan’s persona never coagulates in order to become a meaningful character. Everything is so chaotic about him, that it even gives the impression there was no script for the film. Steve Coogan’s performance is a series of colorful marbles but without any connective string between them and “Hamlet 2” thus becomes a one-man show outshined by the actor’s former roles.

In spite of all its minuses, the Andy Fleming-directed “Hamlet 2” tells an enjoyable story, somewhat far-fetched and jagged. However, the comedy due for release on Friday hasn’t got too high standards and waving backwards and forwards is probably the key to be au fait with this kind of Shakespeare.