2008 Woodie Awards
'Hot Fuzz' reviewed
Slapstick and serious come together
by Corinne Clemetsen
Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: Mosaic
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Big Talk Productions
Rating: 2 and 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Never have I ever seen an old lady punched in the nose by a cop. That is, until "Hot Fuzz." Nor had I ever heard the word "twat" shouted on screen or seen pineapples used as grenades. Somehow, in a mixed up mess of humor and life lessons, "Hot Fuzz" seems to have it all.
"Hot Fuzz" is the British cousin of "Shaun of the Dead," which Simon Pegg co-wrote with director Edgar Wright in 2004. That success led to this new potential. Thus far, it's been nothing less than a success.
The movie has the slapstick, burst-out-laughing and look-like-an-idiot comedy, but unlike "Jackass" or "Napoleon Dynamite," which have little to no plot, "Hot Fuzz's" plot can be taken seriously.
It begins slow, almost boring, when Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is dismissed from London's Metropolitan Police force because he makes all the other officers look bad with his extraordinary talent and unmanageable arrest rate. He's relocated to the quaint town of Sanford, which turns out to be not-so-perfectly simple when Sergeant Angel realizes that all of the accidents - such as a car collision resulting in two beheaded passengers and the church steeple coincidentally falling off, killing the local journalist - aren't really accidents.
He and his na've partner, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who's the son of the police chief, band together to turn this fake town around.
The laughs are sometimes forced and most of them come from the stupidity and absurdity of it all, but the storyline is surprisingly worthy of praise. It teaches a little about friendship, a bit more about the balance of work and home life and a whole lot about the impossible feat of perfection, creating a mockery of the universal desire for excellence.
The movie is more like a homemade film a group of guys would make with water guns and jokes so stupid that you can't help but laugh. "Hot Fuzz" is a no-brainer with a good message, if that's possible.
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