Hot Fuzz (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 71

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-73)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don’t watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / May 11, 2007

“Hot Fuzz” has the most gruesome, parodied death scene — ever (and there’s a lot of competition out there). If you watch this movie, when you see an unsuspecting man standing beside a church, start wincing, right then.

Even though I’ve listed this as a “Good video rental,” like “Spider-Man 3,” “Hot Fuzz” is worth seeing in the theater. Why? Because it intentionally goes overboard on the violence and destruction sound effects to poke fun at the big action movies’ surround-sound assaults. The soundtrack alone is hilarious.

I’m a tough critic when it comes to comedy. But “Hot Fuzz” made me laugh — hard — and out loud. Nevertheless, it doesn’t have as many laughs as I had hoped for, but there’s a good reason for that: In addition to being a comedy, “Hot Fuzz” is also an action thriller. Remember how the “Police Academy” movies of the ‘80s incorporate real crime fighting? Well, “Hot Fuzz” has a creepy little mystery to accompany its laughs.

Police Constable Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a super-cop in London. In fact, he’s a little too good. Because he’s making the rest of the department look bad, he is transferred to a quiet, rural village called Sandford, “the community that cares.”

The sleepy little town seems to be plagued with grotesque “accidental” deaths. Sergeant Angel is quick to observe that these deaths may not be accidental at all; he suspects murder.

That is the premise. It seems simple because it is. But the reason the humor works is because of the comedic pace. The actors’ timing is really good. In fact, you have to watch and listen closely to be sure you catch all the laughs. As in all good comedies, reoccurring themes and seemingly random peculiarities are revisited at just the right times.

The key to “Hot Fuzz,” however, is that Simon Pegg plays his character as if he were cast in a dead-serious action flick. He has the intensity and determination of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt from the “Mission: Impossible” movies.

In addition, the apparent objective for “Hot Fuzz” is to parody the “buddy cop” subgenre and “every action movie ever made.” “Hot Fuzz” and its shout-out references will be hilarious to action movie buffs.

Directed by Edgar Wright
Simon Pegg / Nick Frost / Timothy Dalton
121 min. Comedy / Action
MPAA: R (for violent content including some graphic images and language)

Copyright 2007.
JP0104 : 370