Submitted by cinemascope on Sat, 2007-02-17 20:21. :: This Week's Films
Movie title:
Hot Fuzz
Starring:
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Edward Woodward, Paddy Considine, Rafe Spall, Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Kenneth Cranham, Steve Coogan, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Adam Buxton, Olivia Colman
Directed by:
Edgar Wright
Written by:
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Genre:
Action Comedy
Year:
2007
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Runtime:
2 hours and 1 minute
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the finest officer in the Metropolitan Police. He's too good, in fact. His superiors, fearful that he is making the rest of the force look bad, conspire to transfer him to Sandford, a rural backwater with no crime to speak of. Once Angel arrives in Sandford, he discovers - with the help of hapless local plod Danny Butterman (Frost) that there may be a sinister reason why so many local accidents are occurring.
Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the finest officer in the Metropolitan Police. He's too good, in fact. His superiors, fearful that he is making the rest of the force look bad, conspire to transfer him to Sandford, a rural backwater with no crime to speak of. Once Angel arrives in Sandford, he discovers - with the help of hapless local plod Danny Butterman (Frost) that there may be a sinister reason why so many local accidents are occurring.
Review
The team behind Shaun of the Dead - Pegg, Wright and Frost - have succeeded again in fulfilling the only criteria on which a comedy should really be judged: this is a very funny movie. Like Shaun, it relies on the juxtaposition of a peculiarly American genre (in this case, the buddy cop or action movie) into a peculiarly British setting (in Shaun, English suburbia, in Fuzz, a rural market town) for many of its laughs. You have to wonder how many times they can make this formula work, but for now, we may as well enjoy it while we can. While comedians make up many of the cast (Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Adam Buxton, Olivia Colman), it's the use of British character actors like Broadbent, Paul Freeman and Kenneth Cranham who really make this work, and Timothy Dalton will always remember the day he was offered this job: he's brilliant as the sinisterly suave pencil-moustached manager of the local Somerfield, and relishes every beautifully scripted line that he's given. Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall are also good fun as the sarcastic and moronic local CID. In the debit column, the movie is probably a little too long, with the last half hour feeling drawn out, and the formula mentioned here doesn't work quite as well as in Shaun of the Dead - maybe zombies are inherently funnier than neighbourhood watch members. It doesn't pay to be picky though - there are some moments of comedy genius here, and even in the slower patches, the gags come so fast that you're smiling throughout. The funniest film since Borat.
The team behind Shaun of the Dead - Pegg, Wright and Frost - have succeeded again in fulfilling the only criteria on which a comedy should really be judged: this is a very funny movie. Like Shaun, it relies on the juxtaposition of a peculiarly American genre (in this case, the buddy cop or action movie) into a peculiarly British setting (in Shaun, English suburbia, in Fuzz, a rural market town) for many of its laughs. You have to wonder how many times they can make this formula work, but for now, we may as well enjoy it while we can. While comedians make up many of the cast (Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Adam Buxton, Olivia Colman), it's the use of British character actors like Broadbent, Paul Freeman and Kenneth Cranham who really make this work, and Timothy Dalton will always remember the day he was offered this job: he's brilliant as the sinisterly suave pencil-moustached manager of the local Somerfield, and relishes every beautifully scripted line that he's given. Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall are also good fun as the sarcastic and moronic local CID. In the debit column, the movie is probably a little too long, with the last half hour feeling drawn out, and the formula mentioned here doesn't work quite as well as in Shaun of the Dead - maybe zombies are inherently funnier than neighbourhood watch members. It doesn't pay to be picky though - there are some moments of comedy genius here, and even in the slower patches, the gags come so fast that you're smiling throughout. The funniest film since Borat.
