Hot Fuzz

I missed Shaun of the Dead when it originally came out. I really had no interest since I didn't know anything about Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Edgar Wright and I usually shy away from the zombie genre. I skipped it again when it was released on DVD. By this time I had heard more about it but still didn't even attempt to see it. When I finally got around to watching, a while after it had been playing on cable, I discovered it was one of the funniest movies of 2004. Both a comedy and zombie film, each standing on its own while creating three dimensional characters with even a little bit of social satire thrown in. The reason I have taken this long before even mentioning Hot Fuzz is because it does the same thing, just replacing the zombies with police officers.

This film works both as an out-and-out comedy but also as a high paced action film. The movie doesn't play out like a parody of the genre, it uses cliches then changes them half way through. It's like a good version of Bad Boys II but actually funny.

My only complaint is that the film might be a bit too long. A mintute over two hours, there were a few scenes that probably could have been tightened up and an epilogue that felt unnecessary. This doesn't detract from the entire movie, though. Watching the characters in ridiculous situations and trying to notice all the movie references is more than enough for me.