"Is it true that there is a place in a man's head that if you shoot it, it will blow up?"

Rating: 8/10 (31 March 2018)

By the Power of Gray Skull! - this film was a blast! I don't go in much for slapstick, but this picture was more that that. It's a finely directed and acted send-up parody of American cop movies, and the homages are both obvious and subtle. Danny Butterman's (Nick Frost) repeated mentions of "Point Break" and "Bad Boys II" are the most blatant examples, but there was that one scene with the bear trap that was straight out of "Straw Dogs". There's both the original English version and the American remake, and either one works, but "Hot Fuzz" is a British film after all.
What's kind of interesting about the story is that it was actually a pretty good murder mystery if you were to remove the comic elements, but then I would ask, why would you want to? Simon Pegg and Nick Frost aren't necessarily hilarious per se, but the situations they find themselves in produce so many clever and funny scenes that it's impossible not to bust a gut. To quote an earlier collaboration between Pegg, Frost and director Edgar Wright in "Shaun of the Dead", the trio came up with another slice of fried gold.
So if you want to meet 'the cop that can't be stopped', you have to grab a copy of "Hot Fuzz" right off and treat yourself to a good time. The only thing I wish the film makers would have expanded on was the bit about the Living Statue. That had a lot of potential but came to an abrupt end with all the other victims of the Neighborhood Watch Alliance. But if that's the only spot of bother I can come up with, you have to know I had a good time with this flick. I think you will too.