Hot Fuzz (15)

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The ViewNewcastle Review

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Review byMatthew Turner14/02/2007

Five out of Five stars
Running time: 120 mins

A worthy follow-up to Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz is hilarious from start to finish, thanks to a terrific cast, inventive direction and a brilliantly written script.

What's it all about?
Shaun of the Dead duo Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg follow up their hugely successful rom-zom-com with Hot Fuzz, a comedy cop thriller that's like Agatha Christie meets Lethal Weapon. Pegg stars as Nicholas Angel, a London supercop who's transferred to a small village in Gloucestershire because he's making the rest of the force look bad.

On arrival, Angel is partnered with dozy PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the son of the Chief of Police (Jim Broadbent) and it isn't long before he suspects that something in the village isn't quite right, due to the suspiciously high number of fatal accidents. The chief suspect seems to be slimy supermarket owner Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton), but Angel has his hands full just trying to convince anyone that something's wrong.

The Good
Pegg is terrific as Angel, getting maximum laughs by playing Angel as stony-faced and humourless as possible. Frost is equally brilliant as his polar opposite, who introduces Angel to the delights of films such as Point Break and continually bombards him with inane questions - Did you ever fire your gun in the air and go, Aaaaaaah?

The supporting cast are equally good, particularly Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall as Angel's deeply sarcastic colleagues.

The Great
Wright and Pegg's brilliantly written script crackles with witty lines such as, You want to be a big cop in a small town, fuck off up the model village, and is packed with hilarious sight gags and plenty of film references for genre fans. However, they are careful not to let the in-jokes overload the plot and the film still works well as a thriller.

Worth seeing?
This is likely to be the funniest film you'll see all year thanks to its hilarious script and superb comic performances. Genuinely unmissable.

Film Trailer

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Content updated: 24/07/2012 02:17

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