Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 1 mins
Director. Edgar Wright
Cast. Bill Bailey, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Kevin Eldon, Martin Freeman, Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Simon Pegg, Rafe Spall, Edward Woodward.
Rating. 71%
PC Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the Metropolitan Police's best policeman, or should that be "...policeman, officer." In fact, he's so good at the job that he's making the rest of the force look bad. His superior officers [a brilliant triptych of cameos from Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy] come up with a plan - promote him to sergeant and transfer him to the quaint, sleepy village of Sandford, Gloucestershire, a serial contender for Village of the Year.
The key to any successful parody is keeping a straight face when exposing the genre's tropes and recurrent memes. Director Edgar Wright leaves no stone unturned; the homoerotic macho bravado, the integral gun-play, the inordinate amount of wilful property damage - there's even a touch of giallo to the murder sequences. This creates the type of parody that could only come from someone who inherently understands the original source material, as Wright boldly references the films of Tony Scott, Michael Bay and Kathryn Bigelow. His brilliance in selecting a picture-postcard rural haven as the setting for Hot Fuzz allows the director to take these badass elements and make them small. Take the blended footage of Point Break and Bad Boys - sheer perfection and a masterclass in creative editing.
As with Shaun Of The Dead, it is all too easy to eulogise about the technical aspects of the film and forget that Hot Fuzz is funny. Damn funny. Much of the appeal of Hot Fuzz is down to the unforced, natural chemistry between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. But they are aided by a stellar cast of supporting characters. Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall get a lot of mileage out of relatively little screen time as a pair of belligerent and truculent CID officers, DS Andy Wainwright and DC Andy Cartwright. Olivia Colman is a revelation as PC Doris Thatcher, with her innate ability to turn any situation into a double entendre. Finally, Timothy Dalton has all sorts of fun as the sneeringly, malevolent Simon Skinner, the highly suspicious store manager of the local Somerfield supermarket.
Whilst all of Edgar Wright's films are highly rewatchable, Hot Fuzz is probably the most rewatchable with an ability to surprise and enthral time and time again. Easily one of the best British comedies ever made.
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