Change the bloody record, Pegg

Rating: 4/10 (23 June 2007)

Yes, Spaced was sublime, but I've seen it already. Sure, Sean of the Dead expanded on those themes a little, but I've watched that to death. I expected something new here, not just Pegg and Wright rehashing the same played-out characters using the same tired cabal of actors spouting the same old jokes yet again.
I just can't find anything here that they haven't already done, many times before. Even the 'unexpected' disjoints are by now mandatory rather than surprising. From knowing the premise and the writers, the entire plot can be fairly accurately predicted, right down to the fat one coming a cropper. Don't eat the paintballs, Mike.
Cinematically, Wright is going backwards. The trademark jump cuts reach a distracting and aggravating frenzy in the third act; either this is accidental and sloppy, or it's deliberate and obtuse. The budget just isn't there to do the action scenes properly, and the cack-handed attempt to disguise this is painfully obvious. It's neither clever, nor charming.
But worst of all, Hot Fuzz is lukewarm at best. It's dull. It drags. It's a parody of Midsomer Murders, not Bad Boys, and not a particularly sharp one at that.
Pegg and Wright are out of ideas. I'll be skipping their next effort until the rabid fanbois stop raving over it, and some serious and balanced reviews come in.