Hot Fuzz

Simon Pegg as supercop banished to the country.
7 reviews
Glenn Watson February 25, 2007
Hot Fuzz is a breath of fresh air. A fizzy, feelgood comedy with tongue in cheek and heart in the right place.

A top metropolitan cop (Simon Pegg) is so good he’s embarrassing his colleagues. Sent out of harm’s way to a small market town in Gloucestershire, his hot-shot ways inevitably shake up the community. Soon he and a tubby local plod (Nick Frost) form an unlikely partnership, investigating a spate of what look like murders – but which the villagers call accidents.

As the grisly deaths pile up, cue screeching tyres, showdowns and a climactic shootout in a Somerfield supermarket. The makers’ hit film Shaun of the Dead sent up the zombie horror pic. And Hot Fuzz does the same for buddy-cop action thrillers, riffing everything from Lethal Weapon to John Woo’s slo-mo, two-handed gunplay. Bad Boys meets Point Break meets Midsomer Murders.

Better than parody, Hot Fuzz is infectiously quirky, grabbing you from the start. Smart dialogue and nifty editing yield an array of inventive sight gags and memorable lines. But it’s Pegg and especially the engaging Nick Frost who keep the attention - subtly sending up the ‘mismatched cops turn buddy-buddy’ formula.

At times, Fuzz overstretches itself. Gory moments more akin to Shaun of the Dead are out of place here. And action-junkies will only enjoy the showdown for its comedic, genre-riffs. More A-Team than Lethal Weapon – bullets fly but does anyone die? See it and find out.

Shaun of the Dead succeeded in being an effective horror pic while simultaneously spoofing the genre. Hot Fuzz doesn’t gel quite so well but scores higher on its characters and gung-ho bravado. A tad repetitive, and with one too many false endings, it nevertheless buzzes with enough originality to make this a funny and very entertaining film.
Ballbouncingly funny.

It subverts the police/western/action film genre perfectly. Lots of references to spot, including A Fist Full of Dollars. If you like the clever laddish humour of Pegg/Frost go for it: what's not to like?
Absolutely fabulous! funny funny funny! Simon Pegg is a genius and anyone who thinks otherwise obviously just doesn't appreciate his sense of humour. Far too many people expected it to be a funnier version of Shaun of the Dead and have failed to recognise it for what it is. Th new breed of comics (Pegg, Bailey, Carr, Duran) are simply fantastic and it was great to see them coming together again in this film...
I suspect 'Grumpy' has somewhat missed the point in his review. I saw Hot Fuzz on its opening weekend and throughly enjoyed it, along with the majority of the audience. This film builds upon the relationship between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, that began in Spaced and continued through Shaun Of the Dead. Anyone familiar with these will enjoy several references to them in this. The final showdown, whilst not a cinematic revolution, was well executed(!) and put me in mind of Peckinpah. Further references to The Wicker Man and Straw Dogs helped inform a sense of gentle parody that pervades Hot Fuzz. Quite often, the film avoids the temptation of turning scenes into Top Secret or Airplan-style self-reference, and I applaud the film makers for their restraint. The homoeroticism mentioned by 'Grumpy' needed no development - a hint at something other. I don't understand the resentment felt by 'Grumpy' for the supposed false endings. I felt there were sufficient unanswered questions throughout the narrative, indeed, a coventional narrative would have been intensely dull!
A terrible film. I was very disappointed, having quite enjoyed Shaun of the Dead. The plot was predictable, the jokes lame, the violence unnecessarily graphic and the action scenes protracted and repetitive. Simon Pegg played a single attitude ('gritty') throughout the film, and even the hilarious Nick Frost managed not to amuse very much. There was a string of cameos from familiar, wonderful comedy actors who did little more than mumble a few lines. So much of the humour was recycled from existing comedies, such as League of Gentlemen (strange, violent country folk) that it was like watching a watered down pastiche of British comedy of the nineties and noughties.
'Pants' is the word that best describes this film. It nearly made me laugh twice and, judging by the silence in the cinema around me, I wasn't the only person struggling. As well as six or seven infuriating false endings, Hot Fuzz is full of bizarrely graphic and unpleasant violence. The plot centres on a copper who is so good at his job that he's showing up his colleagues and superiors, hence the latter send him to the provinces where he uncovers a huge crime ring in a rural village. Mocking people because they aren't from London and don't drop their 'h's has never struck me as inventive and it certainly isn't here. I saw the jokes and plot-twists coming from a long way off and thought the only interesting thing about the film was the underdeveloped homoeroticism between the two principal male characters: I don't even know if that was intentional.
Brilliant. If you loved 'Spaced and 'Sean of the Dead' then you've probably already seen this. If not, then you definitely should. It name checks films like 'Bad Boys II' and 'Point Break' - and although it subverts the 'buddy cop' action genre, it's also a decent action movie in it's own right. It has a host of cameos from the best of British: Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman and Steve Coogan all appear in the same scene at the beginning of the movie - with surprising comic turns from Paddy Constantine and Timothy Dalton. The twists and turns aren't necessarily that surprising for people who know the genre, although you might be surprised by the level of gore. All in all, a fantastically funny and enjoyable movie - Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have established themselves as the 'Vanguard of the Revival of British Cinema'TM.
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