Surprisingly overrated

Rating: 6/10 (28 July 2007)

By no means a dud, Hot Fuzz tries a little too hard but does not necessarily capture all the magic that came with skewing zombie flicks. This time around the Wright/Pegg alliance dish out an overly long police parody and while there are still quite a lot of hits, the misses are there as well. Many of the jokes are not so much funny as they are intelligent, as has always been the plight of those damn smart Brits and their attempts at tickling our funny-bones.
So, while you may find yourself with a consistently warped smirk across your face, indulging in all the tiny witticisms, mediocre (disguised as brilliant) comedic timing, and half-baked pop references, seldom do the rip-roaring laughs come fast and furious. All the excessive hyper-edits might have given this rural English laugher a fresh sheen but really did nothing to compliment the little hilarity present, and instead became a tad repetitious and distracting, as if the technical competency seemed over-excessive to disguise a lack of gut-busting material found in the script.
Fans of the cult fave Shaun of the Dead will not question any of these inconsistencies for a second, gleefully eating it up with a knife and fork (as the thunderous chorus of hallowed praise for this film has indicated) but for those going in completely unbiased, exercise caution. Heck, it's not like we are flooded with quality comedies all the time, but Hot Fuzz certainly only felt lukewarm at best.