Hot Fuzz takes dead aim at buddy cop action films

By Kylie Jane Wakefield
Collegian Editor
April 25, 2007

In 2004, I was first introduced to one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. It was a British zombie flick, full of quick-witted jokes in nearly every scene, and had an excellent cast to boot. It precisely portrayed the key elements in zombie-horror films since the advent of the genre with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. This film has become celebrated not only in Britain and America, but worldwide, as an instant comedy classic. Its name is Shaun of the Dead.

Three years later, writer/director Edgar Wright and writer/actor Simon Pegg have teamed up once again to produce the highly anticipated Hot Fuzz. The film is yet another genre flick, but this time Wright and Pegg take aim at typical buddy-buddy Hollywood cop films.

Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, an overly enthusiastic police officer enlisted with the London force, and outshines every one of his colleagues. He had dreams of becoming an officer ever since he was a young child, and his appreciation and respect for the law are his utmost priorities. But his fellow police officers think differently. Intimidated by his outstanding achievement, his superiors relocate Angel to Sandford, an apparently quiet and crime-free town voted Britain’s Best Village who knows how many times over. Angel, to say the least, is not pleased.

On the first night of his arrival, Angel meets Danny Butterman (played by real-life best friend Nick Frost), his inebriated colleague and fellow officer. Butterman is the archetypal lazy cop who only pursued the law to please his father, played by the notable Jim Broadbent. The rest of the force is equally lethargic, eating cake and Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream all day long at the station. The evidence room is empty, rats crawl over unused, cobwebbed riot equipment and the cells are never filled. Angel wants nothing to do with Sandford or its police officers, but his dedication forces him to stay.

Suddenly, “accidents” begin to occur in Sandford, which Angel believes are actually murders. Nobody listens to him except for Butterman, and he is only isolated more. After thoroughly investigating his suspicions, the plot suddenly thickens, and Sandford is no longer the crime-free town it’s advertised as.

Hot Fuzz is fast-paced, filled with snappy dialogue and is enjoyable from start to finish. The film contains so many clever cut scenes edited together that it may make your head spin. The humor is easy enough to understand, but that doesn’t mean it’s not witty. It’s the same kind of comedy seen in Shaun of the Dead, and nearly every scene is a riot.

Frost and Pegg are once again the perfect pair. Pegg doesn’t supply the jokes; he’s more of an actor than a comedian here, playing the straight man. But even the sight of Frost’s crooked, boyish smile and his distinguished mannerisms can make anyone chuckle. He gets the most laughs in Hot Fuzz, and deservedly so.

Hot Fuzz is not just a comedy — it is an homage to and a parody of cop films that take themselves way too seriously. There are dozens of references throughout the film and key scenes are spoofed. My only qualms with Hot Fuzz are that it is overly violent and gory. Although the nonstop action and violence are supposed to reflect Hollywood action films, by the end it just becomes unbearable, and you’re asking yourself if it’s ever going to stay quiet for more than a few minutes. The ways that characters die are creative, but not for those with sensitive stomachs.

Hot Fuzz is, overall, one of the best comedies I’ve seen since, well, Shaun of the Dead. Pegg and Wright are sure to keep entertaining with more of their brilliant parodies in the future, and I can only hope that it doesn’t take so long next time.

wakefieldk1@lasalle.edu