Exceptionally crafted film

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2007)

Wright & Pegg's story of officers Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman is a well researched look into the cop/buddy genre, the workings of the UK police, and a slice of deep fried comedy gold all rolled into one. Their new film is easily on par with Shaun of the Dead - I felt it was slightly better, in fact. An immaculate supporting cast, coupled with intense & honest performances by Pegg & Frost, tied up in an innovative and bordering-on-silly but remaining committed plot line, combine to the result of the best film I've seen in a long time. Pegg's performance as hard-edged high-achieving PC Angel and Frost's enthusiastic PC Butterman are a sufficient contrast to their previous screen outing to feel that they're not just recreating the same archetypes in a different setting, and the script - encompassing action film, Agatha Christie style English countryside murder drama, and man-love buddy story - is slick & original, dealing nods to the genres it references but at the same time never seeming derivative or too tongue-in-cheek parody or referential. Having not read much about this film before seeing it, one of the highlights for me was that having no comprehensive opening credit sequence, the appearance of each supporting cast member in the story gave me a warm little smiley feeling. I viewed this film as a masterclass in storytelling, and am extremely glad that there are filmmakers out there with such a careful eye on the craft of comedy.