Hot Fuzz

Rating: 5/5

In this R rated Scooby-Doo moment, Hot Fuzz brings a wonderful amount of surprises and laughs.

Thanks to Constable Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), the streets of London have been safer ever since he came onto the force. Unfortunately, his superiors feel he is making everyone else look bad, so they have decided to transfer him to the small town of Sandford, far away and in the country.

Upon arriving at his new assignment, it is clear for Nicholas to see this village is a far cry from the hustle and bustle he has been used to. On his first day at the job, he is partnered with the chief of police's son, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who has never had a serious day's worth of police work in his life. For Nicholas, things in the quaint town of Sandford seem to be getting further and further away from the career he dreams to have, but he soon learns that appearances can be deceiving.

In my opinion, Hot Fuzz is almost a perfectly crafted comedy. It has scenes within it that are loud and over the top, searching for big time laughs, but even the smaller more subtle moments in it are equally as hilarious. Director Edgar Wright has this uncanny ability to create brilliantly well rounded humor, making his work incredibly unique to any other style comedy I have seen. He is able to have the absolutely ridiculous be not only funny and entertaining, but somehow seem less ludicrous than it would be in any other film.

The opposite personalities between the movie's two lead characters are just one of the many things that makes Hot Fuzz a comedic slam dunk. Nick Frost's character fantasizes of becoming a cop like the hero's in his favorite action films, while Simon Pegg's just wants to uphold justice in the most precise way possible. Together, they create the perfect duo, balancing each other out in their contradictory styles of life and work ethics. It is their on screen chemistry, along with the quick witted dialogue that make Hot Fuzz funny, while not being 100% reliant on physical humor. By having so many excellently timed one liners, it makes the action packed climax all the more fantastic.

Where most comedies focus on slapstick or gross out humor, Hot Fuzz takes a different approach. Some of its' comedy isn't even in a line or an action, but in the film's editing itself. It's almost as if the cuts in the movie have a life of its' own, and it turns out to be a character that is a combination of both Frost's and Pegg's roles. The edits and cinematography are either dry and sarcastic, or in the constant energy of a chase scene; keeping the audience constantly on their toes, never knowing what is going to happen next.

Personally, I am not someone who has a tendency to gravitate towards comedy or action films, and Hot Fuzz is a combination of both, yet I absolutely love it. It revels in its' own absurdity, and not at one moment does it take itself too seriously or try to be anything but the over the top and comically genius film it is.