With more filmed Hamlets than you could rattle a poisoned saber at, the raison d'etre for any new production has got to be a either a bold new interpretation or stellar performances. (Preferably, both.) While this vanity project from co-adaptor, co-director and lead Campbell Scott has an interesting if vague "Southern plantation during the Civil War" feel to it, complete with a black Ophelia, stellar is hardly the word for the result: in fact, this Hallmark production is one of the worst this critic has ever had the chore of sitting through. Scott's intentions of stripping the play of its staginess to reveal the great drama underneath are admirable, but far from conjuring up the great Dane, the seemingly never-aging Scott mumbles his way through the frantic first half, a cross between Harry Potter and the Rain Man, and then strolls through the play's climax with an almost Wodehousian reserve. Casting director Judy Dennis gives Scott little support, as her strategy to broaden the production's potential audience consists of miscasting popular tube stars, such as The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli as Rosencrantz, who gives a performance so wooden he could be wearing a cement overcoat under his tuxedo (yes, tuxedo), and The Practice's attorney Lisa Gay Hamilton, whose turn as Ophelia is as clueless as her character. Even the theater-venerable Blair Brown and Roscoe Lee Browne are off their game here. Not recommended. (S. C. Sickles)
Hamlet
Artisan, 179 min., not rated, VHS: $39.98, DVD: $19.98 January 14, 2002
Hamlet
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