Hamlet

Giving the prince access to new technology doesn't make him a more interesting person. Unshaven, scruffy, with greasy brown hair, he slouches in a woollen ski hat, totally self-absorbed. Surprisingly, he doesn't use drugs, this being Manhattan in the Nineties.

Shakespeare in modern dress is a conceit, a fun time for director/adapter Michael Almereyda. Hamlet is a crazy, mixed-up kid. Let's have flashes of James Dean on the TV. Iconic reference, right?

When sneaking a look at emails on their laptop during a flight to London, he discovers that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been instructed to bump him off. As for Ophelia (Julia Stiles), she's a sulky teenager, who wants to be a photographer.

The gravedigger sings snatches of Jimi Hendrix and the play within the play is an experimental video, entitled The Mouse Trap. "To be or not to be" is filmed on a camcorder, as Hamlet fools around with a handgun. His mates drink Carlsberg in the clubs and his uncle (Kyle MacLachlan), who poisoned his dad (Sam Shepard) to get close to his mom (Diane Venora) is CEO of Denmark Corporation.

The Elizabethan language sounds alien in the context of contemporary New York. It's a case of the less said the better, which is a problem with the Bard, because he's inclined to go on a bit.

Almereyda prefers rooms to streets, the Guggenheim museum to Central Park and a fax machine to a letter. He cannot disguise the melodramatic storyline, except by portraying the prince as a deluded rich kid, who needs psychiatric help.

Ethan Hawke is not dangerous enough. Energy has seeped out of him. He is more of a dull ache than an avenging angel. Bill Murray, as Ophelia's dad, compensates. At any moment, you expect he's going to do something really silly.