Genre: Comedy

Director: Edgar Wright

Certificate: Hot Fuzz was rated 15A by the Irish Film Censor's Office (www.ifco.ie) i.e. suitable for those of 15 years of age or upwards.  Persons under 15 must be accompanied by an adult.

Violence = strong. Drugs = mild. Sex/Nudity = mild. Language = strong.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Hot Fuzz

Afternoons like that of the sopping wet Thursday were made for trips to the cinema.  I made the 'other half' come with me to see 'Hot Fuzz'.  The rain poured, the wind howled and the smell of fresh popcorn wafting from the building almost had me drooling as I hopped from foot to foot outside waiting for him to meet me.  Patience is a virtue I'm sadly lacking…

Despite a slight mishap with our tickets – the chap at the desk was so engrossed in the obviously life-changing conversation he was having with his colleague that he sold me tickets for the show that was on an hour before the one I asked for, which resulted in a chase scene Benny Hill would've been proud of as we frantically tried to find the screen we were supposed to be in – we soon enough settled down to the mass scoffing of junk food that's synonymous these days with cinema trips.

Oh yeah, and to the movie.  Written by Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright - the collective 'brains' (pun definitely intended) behind zombie parody ‘Shaun of the Dead’ – ‘Hot Fuzz’ tells the story of Nicholas Angel (played by Pegg) who, at a current tally of 400%, has the highest arrest record in the Metropolitan Police 'Service' (now so called because Police 'Force' isn't very PC anymore).  This has his superiors enraged with jealousy to such an extent that they ship him off to the quietest and most unexciting place possible, the quintessential English postcard village of Sandford, known for being statistically the safest place in the country, even if – or maybe because – every farmer and his mum is packing!  Nicholas gets lumped with Danny (Nick Frost), the most bumbling policeman in the service, for a partner and tries to settle down to a life where the most exciting thing happening is the ongoing search for the swan that's escaped from Sandford Castle.  However, although the murder rate may be low the accident rate is disturbingly high and while the Inspector (Jim Broadbent), who also happens to be Danny's dad, thinks he's being just a tad melodramatic, Nicholas is convinced that the head of the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance - the NWA, an acronym that made me giggle every time it appeared on screen - and the owner of the local supermarket - a hilariously creepy turn by ex-Bond Timothy Dalton - know a lot more than they're letting on…

Anyone who has seen the Channel 4 series ‘Spaced’, co-written by Pegg and comedic actress Jessica Stevenson, or the aforementioned ‘Shaun of the Dead’ will recognise the particular style used by these guys, namely the similar production values and abundance of one-liners and witty deadpan retorts.  Nicholas' fish-out-of-water scenes are funny but his sadness at being banished to the arse end of the country is very real.  As with the piss-ripping of the whole horror movie genre that was one of the main features of ‘Shaun…’, there are clichés en-masse here from every cop film ever made, from the new guy being reluctantly saddled with the worst bobby in the station and their journey to best bud-dom to the climaxing chase and confront sequence.  If you're into the Pegg-Wright humour you'll love ‘Hot Fuzz’, as you can spend a large amount of time spotting all the actors who also appeared in both ‘Spaced’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and laughing at the in-jokes.  If you're new to the experience you'll still love it as it's achingly funny, slick and well made on a pretty small budget by Hollywood standards.

My only quibble, and it's purely because I sometimes have less attention span than a gnat, is that the chase scene was just a teeny bit too long.  Having said that, I'm sure your average bloke going to see it would say that that's hardly a bad thing!

Blink and You’ll Miss It Moment: in one of the supermarket scenes early in the movie, Danny flicks through a pile of DVDs. Blink and you'll miss the copy of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ in the bargain bin!

If you thought ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was funny well I have to say this is even better.  We see Sgt. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) a disciplined metropolitan police officer (who lives for his work) being promoted but transferred to the sleepy Gloucestershire village of Sandford where he is teamed with the bumbling but loveable PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost).  Nothing much appears to happen in Sandford and Sgt. Angel's arrival is met with a mixture of intrigue and general amusement as his over zealous nature makes him a figure of fun amongst his colleagues at the station, whose main preoccupation seems to be frequenting the pub on a regular basis, and eating lashings of gateau and ice -cream at every opportunity.  However, all is not what it seems and a series of strange and bizarre accidents soon sees Sgt. Angel take matters into his own hands with some hilarious and sometimes macabre results. 

The writing of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg is truly excellent and the characters they have created are just wonderful to watch, they have taken bits from so many different genres and pieced them all together perfectly to make a great movie.  From the Gloucestershire constable who has to have his sentences translated into English and the Starsky and Hutch like Detective Constables, both called Andy (wonderfully played by Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall), to the suave but oily supermarket manager Simon Skinner played by Timothy Dalton, who seems to revel in every scene, it's like a who's who of British talent with people like Jim Broadbent, Edward Woodward, Steve Coogan, Billie Whitelaw, and Bill Nighy putting in appearances.  It's over the top, totally absurd, but very endearing at the same time, there are laugh out loud Buster Keaton style visual comedic moments, infused with more subtle gags that make you smile.  I hope the Pegg and Wright partnership goes from strength to strength and if they keep coming up with writing of this quality they can't fail to capitalise on what looks to be a winning formula.  In a word… Memorable!

Simon Pegg

Nick Frost

Jim Broadbent

Paddy Considine

Steve Coogan

Timothy Dalton

Martin Freeman

Bill Nighy

Rafe Spall

Edward Woodward

RECOMMENDED