Movie of the Week

This Week,

HOT FUZZ (2007)

Starring- Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton

While some Pegg/Frost/Edgar Wright fans think Shaun of the Dead is their best film effort, I disagree and place Hot Fuzz above it in the Blood and Ice Cream/Cornetto Trilogy. Both films are riotously funny parodies of specific genres and have great supporting casts and cameos, but as a fan of action/buddy cop movies, I am biased. Directed by Wright, and starring Pegg and Frost, Hot Fuzz follows the remarkably efficient and uptight policeman (officer) Nicholas Angel (Pegg) and his adventures in a small town known for its supremacy as "village of the year."

Angel is transferred to the charming village of Sanford when his overachieving begins to make the other members of the Metropolitan Police in London look bad. Once in Sanford, he is paired with the overweight, underachieving Danny Butterman (Frost) and sent out on relatively mundane missions like chasing shoplifters and searching for escaped swans. Despite being unhappy with his situation, Angel is forced to resume more hard core police work when a series of deaths in the town appear to be murders. Nobody believes him, except Danny, and he struggles to convince his chief (Jim Broadbent) as well as the townspeople.

Something much more sinister, and clever, lurks behind the deaths, and it all gets finished off in a fabulously over-the-top gunfight that harkens back to great cop films like Lethal Weapon, Point Break and Bad Boys 2. Pegg and Wright's style is very inventive and thorough, and doesn't allow even the most minor moments to be free of comedy. Also, unlike other parodies that mock and belittle the source material, Hot Fuzz is more of a comedic homage to the action film genre. It benefits from a strong cast, as well, led by veterans like Dalton, Edward Woodward, Bill Nighy and Paul Freeman, who play it straight amidst the silly circumstances.

Hot Fuzz is rife with great moments, and has a plot that keeps you guessing, unlike so many modern comedies that have no plot. Thanks to this movie and Shaun of the Dead, I am eagerly awaiting the final film in the trilogy- The World's End. 2012 can't come soon enough.

Things to watch for-

"Yarp"
Crusty Jugglers
Angel's Peace Lily
A great big bushy beard
Cousin Sissy
Mr. Peter Ian Staker (Come on!)

"Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?' "