Reviews

The first 10 minutes of this movie was laughing-out-loud funny and the rest of the movie was not far behind. I am a big Steve Coogan fan and this is probably his best comedy. Throw in Elizabeth Shue playing herself and Amy Poehler as an ACLU lawyer and you have a quite a movie. Steve Coogan's character writes the Hamlet 2 play for his High School drama class. It is a time-traveling musical which features Jesus Christ in a major role. The musical numbers are done very well with some very funny lyrics.

Some of my favorite scenes involve the Steve Coogan character talking with his harshest critic - a young student at the school who offers Coogan some sage advice.

Whether the son was gay was settled by the middle of the film. His sexuality was of no importance to the movie. As to the statement that he did not consummate any relationship. I can only say he must have been watching a different movie.

One of the most fascinating things about the movie was that the shot of Caesar's Palace pool area showed a vast empty space space behind the hotel. Another is that all the main characters in the movie smoked quite a bit - it is a bit jarring to current sensibilities. Brenda Vacarro was great and was the best thing about the movie. David Jansen also did a good job. He played the part much as I would have thought Clark Gable would have played it. My main problem with the movie was that i thought the son was miscast. He was supposed to be an idealist but he seemed a bit slimy to me right from the start.