Hot Fuzz lives up to it's awe inspiring poster

Hot Fuzz

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Edward Woodward, Billie Whitelaw

Written By: Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright

Directed by: Edgar Wright

As Hot Fuzz opens we are introduced into ace cop Nicholas Angel (Pegg).  Angel is the best cop on the force, in every aspect of the job.  The action, the public relations, and even the paperwork.  He’s so good in fact, that he makes the rest of the force look bad.  As such he is demoted to the small town of Sandford (the name of the town is derived from the fictional town used in police quizzes in London.).  A perfect little town with the lowest crime rate in the Country.  Sandford has won “Village of the Year” for several years in a row.  It’s literally so perfect of a town that the biggest police worth problem is an escaped swan.  However Sandford isn’t quite as pleasant as it seems.  There is something very sinister going on in Sandford and only the perfect cop, and his bumbling partner Danny Butterman (Frost) can put a stop to it.

Hot Fuzz is a delightful film, loaded with enough pop culture references to fill half a season of Psych and overflowing with tongue in cheek humor that only the best British comedians can produce.  Simon Pegg maintains the same comedic form that he’s had since his days on Spaced, and nobody can play the bumbling oaf like Nick Frost.  This comedic duo could probably do a remake of Gigli and win over audiences.  The town of Sandford is rendered beautifully, and David Arnold’s score really draws the viewer in.  Edgar Wright and Pegg’s writing is top notch stringing you along with silly jokes, while managing to foreshadowing towards the explosive climax all the while.  You only truly appreciate the film having watched it a 2nd time, as this allows you to notice hints that were missed the first go round.

The supporting cast is wonderful as well.  Timothy Dalton plays his best role to date, as the Super-Market manager Simon Skinner.  He brings of charm and sinisterness that only he can manage, while keeping pace with Pegg in the comedic game.  Jim Broadbent plays the benevolent police chief Frank Butterman.  He creates a perfect illusion of peace an harmony, and his melt down during the climax is a perfect transition to the polar opposite.  The remaining members of the Sandford police force are walking stereotypes, executed as humorously as possible.  With Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall playing “The Andys”.  Partners that are snide, over-confident, and at times down right annoying, yet still likable unlike the characters in other police films that they are spoofing.  Olivia Colman plays Doris Thatcher, a snarky PC with an affection for making sexual jokes at her own expense, yet feigning outrage when another makes the same joke.  Karl Johnson plays a rambling PC who never says anything you can understand, yet the other officers know exactly what he’s saying, and finally Kevin Eldon plays Sgt. Tony Fischer the least flamboyant of the crew.  Likely a play on Judge Reihnhold.

The “Wrighting” in Hot Fuzz is hilarious as always.  Ranging from the word play gags, such as adding the word Alliance to the end of neighborhood watch so all the characters call a group of old white people the NWA for the entire film to simply delivering the funniest possible outcome numerous times during fight scenes.  During the climatic series of gunfights, almost all of them end in either environmental incapacitation or hand to hand combat.  The fist fight between Dalton and Pegg is a perfect fusion of James Bond meets Tom and Jerry.  Pegg’s and Wright’s comedic instincts are so great that they added in the funniest part to the movie, simply because they said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if…”  That style of editing brings a great style of personalization to their work that is rarely seen these days.  Certainly Wright, Pegg and Frost should be discussed along the likes of Ferral, Riley, and McKay or Rogen, Hill, and Apatow.  That is, if not before.

10 out of 10