Too good to be true

Rating: 6/10 (22 February 2007)

It's February 2007 and Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright are back from the undead and bringing in the new year with Hot Fuzz, a crime caper, a rural whodunnit and a Charles Bronson revenge flick all in one neat two hour package.
Sounds too good to be true? It almost is. After the huge success of Shaun of the Dead, the filmgoing community have been hanging on tenterhooks, with little information to go on. And it seems that anyone who doesn't want to watch Hot Fuzz simply wants to appear in it - the film includes some of the UK's most seasoned comedians and RSC actors.
Once again, the movie is expertly made, stretching out what one can only assume was a comparatively small budget. There are funny lines and an involving and amusing relationship between the two leads, Angel and Danny. However, the extra glamour tacked on to the film, in the shape of Hong Kong-style gunfights and heavyweight actors like Timothy Dalton and Jim Broadbent adds very little to the film. The most enjoyable part of all of Pegg and Wright's work has been the interaction between the characters. The complex 'whodunnit' plot is as perfunctory as anything penned by the writers of Midsomer Murders, and merely a distraction from the comedy. And when the final set-piece arrives, it is too late in the film, and possibly too daft to be wholly compelling.
The principal problem with the film however, other than its generous length, is that Pegg and pals have created a product equally disposable as the films they have lampooned. Did they mean to achieve this? Who can say?