Directed By: Edgar Pegg
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
Running time: 121 minutes
Links: IMDB | Trailer
Rating: 3.5/5

“Hot Fuzz” is the second film from writing duo Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the same couple that unleashed the surprise cult hit “Shaun of the Dead” on the world a few years ago. Not since Guy Ritchie’s rise to fame has there been such hype over an English produced film. Fortunately just as Ritchie did the English proud by wowing us with “Snatch” Wright & Pegg have done the same. Lets just hope for their sakes they don’t follow any further in Ritchie’s footsteps and make a “Revolver”*.

The film revolves around Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), a London police officer that is making the rest of the force look bad by doing his job too well. Because of this his superiors have decided to have him shipped off to the small village of Sandford where the biggest crime for the month is a run away swan. Nick’s joined by his new partner Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) to patrol the sleepy town where they discover there might be something deeper the series of deadly actions of late. In addition to Pegg & Frost is a fantastic supporting cast including the likes of Bill Bailey (Black Books), Timothy Dalton (ex James Bond), Martin Freeman (The Office) and Bill Nighy (Love Actually) to name a few.

To begin with “Hot Fuzz” is your classic fish-out-water flick, it spends a good 30 minutes establishing the story with little hilarity only to be followed up by another 30 minutes of plot development littered with sight gags and slapstick. That’s not to say it’s not funny, quite the opposite actually, Pegg & Frost’s on screen partnership is comedic gold, it’s just that you find yourself expecting them to be funny in every scene and at times you seem to be waiting an eternity for something funny to happen. The second half of the film is where it truly comes into its own right. You can quickly forgive the slow feeling of the prior hour as the story unfolds into a creation that could only come from the minds of Wright & Pegg.

Forget all that crap though, lets just cut to the chase; what’s better, “Shaun of the Dead” or “Hot Fuzz”? Well for me it was the first. “Shaun of the Dead” reinvented British comedy for me and although “Hot Fuzz” was extremely funny in its own right I couldn’t help but feel that it dragged on that little too much at first. “Shaun of the Dead” on the other hand kept a much more constant flow of laughs. That’s your decision to make though, I have friends that disagree and if you’ve never seen “Shaun of the Dead” do yourself a favor and go rent it today!

All in all “Hot Fuzz” is a fantastic, funny film that you shouldn’t miss. If you’re a fan of British comedy and enjoy TV shows like “Black Books”, “Black Adder” and “The Mighty Boosh” you’ll love this too.

* Never heard of “Revolver”? Don’t feel too bad, it had a theatrical release that lasted a couple of weeks (or should have) and anyone that has actually seen the film doesn’t know what happened and couldn’t tell you what it was about. Mind you that didn’t stop me paying 15 squid to see it opening week while I was on holiday in London. Yeah I got screwed!