Joo know what time it is?

William Shakespeare must be rolling around in his grave – either from anger or by laughing so damn hard. Hamlet 2 is the funniest high school comedy I’ve seen in a long time; a riotous musical romp that had me wanting to get up and dance during its energetic and hilarious climax.

The film, directed by Andrew Fleming, focuses on David Marschz, played by the fantastic Steve Coogan, a failed actor who now works as a drama teacher at a high school in Tucson - ”where dreams go to die.” When the principal informs him that the drama department is being shut down at the end of the semester due to budget cuts, Marschz (pronounced Mars-chhh-zzz) sets out to produce a play in the hopes of inspiring people to donate funds and save the department. Cliched, right? It can be, but the film is also pretty fucking funny, so the cliches are soon forgotten.

Desperate to produce his first piece ”not based on a popular movie,” Marschz decides to rewrite Shakespeare’s Hamlet and give it a happy ending. What better way to do that than with a sequel to the play, which involves a time machine, living politicians, and a ‘sexy’ Jesus.

Hamlet 2 has been getting comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite, and that’ll probably scare viewers away, so let me assure you, this is nothing like that film. While Napoleon Dynamite makes such not to offend, Hamlet 2 makes sure to offend at least a handful of people in the audience. Not that we’d expect any less from the co-writers of South Park and Team America.

Coogan does a great job of making Marschz’s character pathetic, desperate and loveably unlikable. Rounding out the cast are some hilariously twisted women, whether it’s Elisabeth Shue playing herself (if she would give up acting and take up nursing in Tuscon), Amy Poehler portraying the fiesty ACLU lawyer who wants to ‘sue’ everyone,  or the always fabulous Catherine Keener as Coogan’s ex-drug dealing wife who longs to get pregnant but can’t give up her alcohol.

The more things fall apart, the funnier the film gets, but the ultimate hilarity doesn’t ensue until the final act when we get to see just how funny a sequel to Hamlet can actually be. What stands out most in the play within the movie is the music. Between the cast’s performance of the original songs, “Rape My Face” and “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus” or the local gay man choir’s rendition of Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” the final moments take the film from hilarious to brilliant and had me humming as I walked out of the theater.

Thank God “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” is available on Youtube. Now all I wanna know is, where’s the damn soundtrack?

***1/2 out of ****

The movie opens in theaters on August 27th!