"Cause I am one?"
Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is living his dream: he is a successful London police officer. His records make the rest of the department look bad, so he is promoted and reassigned to a the small town of Sandford. Sandford does not have crime: the evidence room is empty and the officers eat cake at work and spend their evenings at the town pub. The evening he arrives in town, Angel makes numerous arrests. One is a member of the police force, Danny Butterman (Frost) who becomes Angel's partner.
As the rest of the team is quick to point out, Sandford does not have crime...although they do have a renegade swan. However, people begin having deadly (and bloody) accidents. Angel sees foul play, but cannot prove anything. His boss, Inspector Butterman (Broadbent), tries to convince Angel that he is paranoid after years in the city, and the rest of the community belives the reported accidents. When Angel witnesses the fifth murder he decides to do his own investigation, much to the chagrin of the townspeople.
Wow! In 2004 Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright made the hilarious "Shaun of the Dead" (a zombie comedy), and what Shaun did for zombies...Fuzz does for police / cop films. Simultaneously mocking and winking at cop films (Danny's knowledge of police work, violence, and guns is taken from American cop films, which he introduces to Angel) with hilarious results. It starts sane, slow, and soft...but grows as the film continues. The setup and payoff work, without telling the audience exactly who will die and why it will happen (you can guess...but you'll never figure out the whole thing). The final showdown is larger than life...lots of guns (I can't go into details) and other weaponry, explosions, and plenty of blood and cursing.
Dude, it's quotable: most of the funny lines are either inappropriate in mixed crowds (or out of context) and there is lots of cursing...but its funny.
Rent it!: if you enjoyed "Shaun of the Dead" and enjoy British humor, this is the film for you (it helps to have a basic understanding / appreciation of police "dramas")
Hot Fuzz (2007) 121 minutes
Rating: R for violent content including some graphic images, and language.
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg as Sergeant Nicholas Angel
Nick Frost as PC Danny Butterman
Timothy Dalton as Simon Skinner
Jim Broadbent as Inspector Frank Butterman
Paddy Considine as DS Andy Wainwright
Rafe Spall as DC Andy Cartwright
Kevin Eldon as Sergeant Tony Fisher
Olivia Colman as PC Doris Thatcher
Karl Johnson as PC Bob Walker
Bill Bailey as Sergeant Turner
Now I really did like this, found it humorous and wacky at the end. In fact there was a scene that had me laughing so much I had tears - and thats a very very rare event for me!! The rest of the time though it was humourous rather than funny ha ha. A wacky story though and fun to watch
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