The 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:
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