Not a lot of fuzz about nothing...

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2007)

Take London's top cop, whose arrest rate is embarrassing his bosses, and send him to a soporific, apparently crime free, Gloucestershire village where he can embarrass no more. Okay, it's maybe not the most inspiring, or indeed plausible basis for a film but it should be remembered whose hands Hot Fuzz is in. Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost are fast becoming something akin to the Holy trinity of contemporary British comedy. With two series of the Channel Four sitcom Spaced and the rib-splinteringly funny Shaun of the Dead under their collective belt they appear to have their chosen vocation pretty much nailed.
Hot Fuzz is to the police movie what Shaun of the Dead was to horror - an unrelenting parody, littered with references to the best and worst of crime-fighting on screen. It brings together the cream of Britain's current comedy pantheon. There are outings for Oscar-winning Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan, Bill Bailey and the actor Kevin Eldon. There are also welcome appearances from Edward Woodward and the joyfully over-acting former 007, Timothy Dalton. For his part, Pegg plays the exiled London bobby Sergeant Nicholas Angel, ordered to what seems to be the sleepiest of sleepy backwaters. There he's partnered with Nick Frost's asinine PC Danny Butterman. As he battles for acceptance from his newly acquired (and somewhat less than welcoming) peers, including the brutishly brilliant Paddy Considine, we learn that all is not as it seems in this provincial idyll. A series of gruesome "accidents" point to something altogether quite, quite sinister. All of Nick Angel's skills are surely going to be put to the test. Oh the irony...
What develops is one of the most farcical, preposterous films around. But for all its utter ridiculousness, it's very, very entertaining and very, very amusing. Rapid-fire, superbly written humour and some very rapid editing ensure there's little opportunity to let the mind dwell on any potential flaws. It's perhaps not as consistently funny, and so maybe not quite as consistently good as Shaun of the Dead but it remains incredibly enjoyable. There are moments which will surely be laughed at over and over again. And that's perhaps what Hot Fuzz calls for most - to be watched more than once. It's well worth it.