Losing the Name of Action: Hamlet 2

Abstract

Strange juxtapositions can be startling at best, infelicitous at worst. To be “raped in the face” is a perfectly designed phrase of comedic nihilism—a shock-term designed to garner a chuckle due to the severity of the verb and the unconventionality of the phrasing. The juxtaposition of “rape” and “face” does force the mind to think of what such an idiom, were it to make it into wide enough circulation, would entail or consist of. Not that I have any strong desire to see such a phrase make it into idiomatic circulation, even if only to garner the odd chuckle. But to imagine why a character like Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) would insist on such a term is to presume, at the outset, that the film he stars in, Hamlet 2, is rather careful in its rendering of such terms, and equally so in its derision of other sacred cows. I cannot at the outset say why or how exactly a comedic film becomes a “comedy of nihilism” rather than simply another nihilistic comedy. I will list some areas of overlap between this and several other films I have discussed. Yet it is clear to me that this film is at the pinnacle of our genre, which is to say that its hilarity is too important to take lightly.