Hamlet 2’s own personal “Jesus”
August 28, 2008 at 4:55 pm by Curt Holman in A&EThe highlight of the new comedy Hamlet 2 also appears to be its biggest selling point: the climactic musical number “Rock Me Sexy Jesus.”Rather than keep the movie’s big finish underwraps, Focus Features is letting its savior hang out, as it were, by making it a central part of the film’s ads and trailers, especially on-line. Perhaps Focus Features is deliberately courting religious controversy as a marketing tool, but the emphasis is a little misleading. You might actually think Hamlet 2 is an irreligious musical about Jesus, when it’s actually a spoof of “inspirational teacher” films like Dangerous Minds. (But didn’t Jon Lovitz already do that with High School High?)
Hamlet 2’s promotional campaign even features a sing-along music video that’s part the number, part clips of the film. It’s fun, but you might not want to spoil it if you’re planning to see the movie:
I give Hamlet 2 its props for “Rock Me Sexy Jesus’s” laughs, but the filmmakers seem a little too proud of themselves for it. It’s like they’re congratulating themselves for being so “edgy” that they’ve come up with mildly blasphemous musical shtick. But musical numbers featuring Jesus aren’t really that innovative, or even surprising. In contemporary theatrical satires and hipster cable TV shows, the “Jesus song” has almost become a cliche in its own right, and here are just a few:
The first I can think of comes from Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Technically, the 1979 comedy isn’t about Jesus but a mistaken messiah named Brian, but it ends with a mass crucifixion that leads to one of cinema’s most sunny and incongruous songs:
In recent stage musicals, Jesus makes more cameos than Stan Lee in superhero films. In addition to being the protagonist for the second act of the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged), he has significant walk-ons in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Reefer Madness: The Musical. the made-for-cable adaptation of the latter, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical features a heavenly showstopper of “Listen to Jesus, Jimmy,” which features such rhymes as “I’m the face on the Shroud of Turin” and “Do I have to test your urine?”
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar had serious intentions that can look fairly comic in retrospect, especially in the film version. In January, the Alliance Theatre is staging a Gospel-style remount of the show, which sounds intriguing. The sketch comedy program “Mr. Show” once did an elaborate parody of the movie that focused on the “teachings”of Jeepers Creepers, an indecisive Christ figure/slacker played by Jack Black:
Comedian Martin Mull (an unappreciated composer of novelty songs) recorded a Gospel pastiche called “Jesus is Easy” that implied that salvation was less trouble than its alternatives. “South Park” has offered at least one singing Jesus number: on “Mr. Hanky’s Christmas Classics,” Jesus and Santa Claus share a stage to croon Christmas carols like a swinging lounge act. One can find all sorts of Jesus-related songs on the Internet (include a Barack Obama-themed montage to Depeche Mode’s “Your Own Personal Jesus.” Probably the most amusing and memorable of the bunch is this short piece of sacrilege titled “Jesus Christ, The Musical.” You will recognize the tune, but may not see the punchline coming:
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