FUZZTACULAR!

In 2004, co-writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (already known in the UK for their TV series "Spaced") burst onto American movie screens with the single greatest romantic zombie comedy ever made, "Shaun of the Dead." What made "Shaun" work so well was that it worked as a romantic comedy, a buddy comedy, a zombie movie, and a satire of genre conventions, instead of being a lame parody ("Scary Movie 17"). Now three years later, Pegg and Wright re-team to satirize and celebrate overblown action films and the result is the most fun you will have in a movie theater for a long time to come. Forget "Spider-Man," forget "Pirates," it's all about "Hot Fuzz."
"Fuzz" opens with overachieving London cop Nicholas Angel (Pegg) being reassigned to the quaint little village of Sandford. The reason: His arrest record is 400 percent higher than anyone else in the service and as his chief inspector (Bill Nighy in a hilarious cameo) informs him, he's "been making the rest of us look bad." Martin Freeman (Tim from the UK "Office") and Steve Coogan also appear in this scene, assembling four of the best comic actors Britain, or any country, has to offer.
Upon arriving in Sandford, Nicholas is depressed and bored, but it doesn't take him long to realize that something is amiss in this quiet town. It is at this point that "Hot Fuzz" becomes a mystery in the vein of "The Wicker Man" (I'm talking about the original good one now, not the vomit inducing re-make from last summer). Bodies start to pile up and while Nicholas sees murder, everyone else in the town just sees a series of accidents. In fact the only person willing to follow Nicholas is the doughy son of the town police chief, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost, who played Ed in "Shaun"). Danny instantly looks up to Nicholas but is surprised to learn things like Nicholas has never "fired two guns whilst jumping through the air" or seen "Bad Boys II." Danny yearns for the excitement of a Michael Bay movie but the low crime rate in Sandford leaves the police with more pressing matters, such as a swan escaping or dealing with a living statue for being annoying. But with "accidents" on the rise Angel is digging where local supermarket king Simon Skinner (played with relish by Timothy Dalton) doesn't want him to.
Like "Shaun," "Hot Fuzz" infuses so many genres that it becomes a totally original film while at the same time being every film it was influenced by. While "Shaun" was more consistently laugh out loud funny, "Fuzz" is actually a better satire, much of the humor being subtle and under the surface (which is very British of them). The jokes are borne out of the characters and the story, not the other way around as is the case with the average parody. Yes, this movie lampoons buddy comedies and action extravaganzas, but it also works as one on its own. References to "Leon" and "Trainspotting" don't call attention to themselves and if you don't catch them it's alright. However, catching references to other movies is a lot of the fun of this one and it's going to take me another viewing or two to spot them all. Pegg and director Wright poke fun, but only because they love those movies so much. Danny actually teaches Nicholas how to "switch off" by watching a DVD double feature of "Point Break" and Bad Boys II." When Nicholas sees the action and gun play in those movies however his first thought is still, "There's gonna be a lot of paperwork."
Much of "Hot Fuzz" is a murder mystery and the action doesn't really kick in until the last half hour or so, but once it does it becomes an all-out frenzy in which Angel goes Dirty Harry times ten. It is a violent, bloody, and hilarious piece of directing by Wright, who has become even sharper than he was on "Shaun."
As it squeaks past the two hour mark, "Hot Fuzz" may seem a little long for a comedy. Yes there is too much of everything in this movie, but the movies it's satirizing have too much of everything, so it works.
So go see the best action buddy murder mystery slasher cop parody satire comedy ever made. If you don't I'm going to send the fuzz after you! 10/10