FILMS… Hot Fuzz (2007)

#2000s #AllPosts

 

A square Pegg in a round hellhole…

 

Crime comedy where a policeman and his work partner investigate several grisly murders.

 

Frost and Pegg

Timothy Dalton

Hot Fuzz Official Trailer #1 – (2007) HD, Movieclips and photos © Universal Pictures

 

So as an expat, just as Deadpool (2016) and all his wisecracks directed at American pop culture were slowly disappearing from my memory, Finnish TV showed the comedy, Hot Fuzz (2007), with its twisted mimicry of all things, twee and English. It stars the not so twee English comedian, Simon Pegg and his perpetual wingman, Nick Frost.

However, I’m sure this particular pairing would prefer to be compared to the Han Solo and Chewbacca double act. Simon Pegg is an English comedian and now Hollywood – possibly assuming Scotland is a mere suburb North of London – have cast him as Scotty in their recent Star Trek movies. Hot Fuzz also stars a fantastic supporting British – sorry English – cast with every British National Treasure, from Jim Broadbent to Kenneth Cranham to Bill Nighy.

This film starts with a montage about the rise and successes of a high achieving, London-based policeman, Nick Angel (Pegg), showing the highlights of his daring, exemplary career to date. He is then summoned to his superiors office meeting with three English colleagues – from English, more English to most English actors – and told that he’s being moved to the sleepy twee – and heavily satirised – English country hamlet of Sandford in Gloucestershire.

Sandford has a model village, amateur dramatic society, fetes and village square. British readers will probably find this scene all too familiar, as will probably have been dragged to similar English towns as a kid on a family holiday. There you would visit the local castle – if you had a charmed childhood – or Morris Dancers if you weren’t so lucky in your summer holidays to Englandshire.

Angel makes firm friends with his partner PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). Butterman is a buddy cop film aficionado of such classics as the original Point Break (1991) and Bad Boys II (2003). He is also the son of Superior Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). We meet other British characters from their office, with cameos by a few familiar comedians.

We are introduced to the token Neighbourhood watchman (Edward Woodward) and his surprisingly extensive video library, the bartender and his wife. Not forgetting the supermarket owner played by a devilishly smarmy-moustached ex-James Bond, Timothy Dalton. Angel finds the job considerably less thrilling, to begin with, and when he confiscates a shed full of firearms and explosives from a yokel local, he feels a little encouraged. Things get much more interesting, however as the town is suddenly the scene of several violent deaths…

The film was written by 3 writers – including Pegg – from Pegg’s comedy TV series Spaced (1999-2001) and his zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004). Like these, Hot Fuzz is full of the familiar satire and homages we know and love as well as many familiar faces from British film and television. The cast is a delight, where many of the older cast can be identified by true film buffs – and younger comedians share the fun. There are also some cameos to watch out for, but no clues here. But all are worth looking for as they appear from the start of the film.

Hot Fuzz also pays homage to another policeman sent to an apparently quiet British place. This character is played by actor, Edward Woodward, a joint star of both films. The film also references other Pegg productions and is seen as part of his “Cornetto Trilogy”. Each has an in-film reference to this particular ice cream brand for three films. It is a shame really, that this is just a trilogy. Personally, I feel I speak for many when I beg Pegg to put pen to paper for yet another parody. To paraphrase the advert for the ice cream previously mentioned…

“Just one more film, give it to me”.

 

Weeper Rating: 😦  /10

Handsqueeze Rating: 🙂 🙂  🙂  🙂 🙂  🙂 🙂  🙂  /10

Hulk Rating: ‎ ‎ ‎   ‎/10

 

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The Cops Blog-A-Thon 2019, No 26 and Hollywood Genes’ Always A Bridesmaid Film Blogathon No 44

This post was added to Dubsism‘s The Cops Blog-A-Thon. and Hollywood Genes’ Always A Bridesmaid Film Blogathon.  Other reviews here with this cast include,

• Cuban Fury stars Nick Frost and Olivia Colman.
• Simon Pegg stars in Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.
• Bill Nighy in Canterbury Tales, About Time and more.
• Timothy Dalton in The Beautician and the Beast.
• Jim Broadbent in Bridget’s Jones Baby , Moulin Rouge and more.
• Edward Woodward stars in The Wicker Man. 
• Martin Freeman also starred in Love Actually. 
• Olivia Colman appears in my list of Dream Doctor Who Companions.

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