Hot Fuzz Reviews

Timix1's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Good Points: Uproarious send-up of both small town life and bad action movies. Actually justifies Michael Bay's entire existence.

Bad Points: "Needs more cowbell" (sorry for the superfluous Christopher Walken quote). No, HOT FUZZ is perfect just the way it is.

General comments: Back in 2004, the team of writer/director Edgar Wright and writer/actor Simon Pegg gave us SHAUN OF THE DEAD, possibly the world's first romantic zombie comedy (or 'rom-zom-com', as they labelled it in the press at the time). Shockingly, this cinematic juggling act succeeded on all fronts, delivering a hysterically spooky film that somehow manages to tug at the heartstrings when you least expect it.

Three years later, this same twosome brings us a seemingly more straight-forward tale of a big-city police officer (Pegg as newly promoted Sgt. Nicholas Angel) adapting to life in an idyllic small town. Paired with local buffoon Daniel Butterman (an endearing Frost), Angel quickly stumbles onto a sinister plot that involves the entire town. As with the story itself, there is far more going on in this movie than meets the eye.

Like SHAUN, HOT FUZZ works splendidly on several levels. It's a pitch-perfect send-up of Western society's growing desire to aim for the middle, demonstrating how excellence at work - and elsewhere - is often seen as upsetting the status quo or 'rocking the boat'. Call it Bart Simpson Syndrome: the compulsion to underachieve at all costs. It's also a deliciously exaggerated snapshot of village life. Growing up in a small town myself, I am all too familiar with the mindset of a typical village, its residents' stubborn resistance to change and their rabid obsession with knowing everyone else's business. Best of all, it beautifully lampoons the loud, generic action flicks that Hollywood has been regularly churning out since the 80's. I can't believe that I'm writing this, but HOT FUZZ actually justifies Michael Bay's entire career. For many, director Bay typifies what's wrong with most action-oriented films, with their ridiculous premises, unimaginative dialogue, excessive use of slow motion shots, etc. Here, practically every action movie clich is interwoven into the film's glorious final act, when Angel resorts to some rather extreme - and extremely funny - tactics to get the job done.

It's a huge credit to Wright and Pegg's writing skills that within this densely plotted story the characters themselves shine through. Here, they not only create two lead characters that you actually care about [Pegg and Frost are quickly becoming my all-time favourite comedy duo] but also a whole town's worth of memorable figures. That same love for these characters is also applied to the subjects that are being spoofed; only genuine devotees of those aforementioned action-movie cheese fests could so cleverly reference them here.

Simply put, HOT FUZZ is an immensely entertaining film, chock full of fiendishly funny dialogue, memorable characters and, yes, killer action sequences (not to mention a priceless cameo from Cate Blanchett). Consider this a must-see.

The Hooded Claw's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Simon Pegg plays an excellent police overachiever who is sidelined because he is too efficient. Posted to the countryside, things get strange. Lots of guns and contestants for the best village competition make an unusual and very enjoyable gun fest. English village murder dramas have rarely risen above the Miss Marple nonsense [with the exception of some Morse] but this one soars. See it, enjoy it.