Let's get FUZZical
HOT FUZZ (12A) reviewed by David Mahmoudieh at the
UK premier, Leicester Sq, London
Big Cop. Small Town. Tight Fit. Hot Fuzz!
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and directorial spouse Edgar Wright firmly promoted themselves to the A-League of British comedy with their 2004 cult magnum opus Shaun of the Dead. Now, three years later, the talented and tumultuous trio let loose their eagerly-anticipated second feature, Hot Fuzz – an on the whole simple but stylishly told tale.
Pegg plays Sergeant Nicholas Angel, London’s top cop and by-the-book enforcer who lives for his job. Problem is, he’s good – so good he makes his colleagues look like the bad-guys, and is fast-becoming a victim of his own success.
Eager to sweep their top-performer under the metropolitan carpet, Angel’s superiors (Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan’s respective two-cents) decide to “promote” the overachiever to the most criminally-inactive village in rural England – slow and sleepy Sandford.
Paired with local bobby Danny (Nick Frost), a wannabe Don Johnson with abundant puppy-like enthusiasm but about as much steel as Marlon Dingle, Angel endures a massive culture-shock when he gets cracking on some of the town’s toughest cases – like that of a missing swan.
The breaking dawn of reality that the most exciting facets of this ostensibly idyllic settlement are garden parties and the weekly neighborhood-watch meeting only add to Angel’s growing frustrations. But like all good detectives, the far-from-home-and-fury law-enforcer begins to see cracks in the town’s veneer when a series of anomalous and baffling events are flounced aside as 'accidents'.
If Sandford is indeed a sleeping tiger, then it’s about to get one hell of wake-up call, as Angel – armed with his replenished instincts and an awe-struck sidekick – sets out to unearth the commodity of truth. And that’s where the real fun begins.
Pegg, Frost and Wright, who accumatively wrote the screenplay, are adroit enough entertainers to know how to avoid any over-reference or resemblance to past successes. And, in many ways, Fuzz is a clever reversal of Shaun of the Dead’s design of amiable guy thrown into extreme circumstances in a bid to restore order, with the conversely extreme character of Angel as the fish-out-of-water finding himself in seemingly peaceful environs as a bringer of chaos.
Aside from the inverted prototypical subterfuge, it would be largely unfair to compare the two. Meaning all the more credit on merit, considering the weight of expectation augmented by their previous big-screen endeavour. And not many comedies can stretch two hours and still provide enough laughs and gaffs to make it seem like half of that. 'Time' indeed 'flies', as they say.
Fuzz isn't completely without its niggling and largely avoidable imperfections, most tellingly the swift and speedy compressional cuts – an evocative nod in the direction of the 'hip-hop montages' in Requiem for a Dream – appear funny at first but grow tiresome and prehistoric come the ninth and tenth time. Maybe that's being a little too harsh, but nevertheless did come as a surprising piece of disregard from a group of filmmakers who so clearly and accurately understand the needs of their audience.
That said, Hot Fuzz is a thoroughly enjoyable endeavour which will no doubt wash down well with the army of fans this close-knit team have deservedly secured, and go some way to winning a few more.
© David Mahmoudieh 2007
HOT FUZZ (12A) reviewed by David Mahmoudieh at the
UK premier, Leicester Sq, London
Big Cop. Small Town. Tight Fit. Hot Fuzz!
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and directorial spouse Edgar Wright firmly promoted themselves to the A-League of British comedy with their 2004 cult magnum opus Shaun of the Dead. Now, three years later, the talented and tumultuous trio let loose their eagerly-anticipated second feature, Hot Fuzz – an on the whole simple but stylishly told tale.
Pegg plays Sergeant Nicholas Angel, London’s top cop and by-the-book enforcer who lives for his job. Problem is, he’s good – so good he makes his colleagues look like the bad-guys, and is fast-becoming a victim of his own success.
Eager to sweep their top-performer under the metropolitan carpet, Angel’s superiors (Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan’s respective two-cents) decide to “promote” the overachiever to the most criminally-inactive village in rural England – slow and sleepy Sandford.
Paired with local bobby Danny (Nick Frost), a wannabe Don Johnson with abundant puppy-like enthusiasm but about as much steel as Marlon Dingle, Angel endures a massive culture-shock when he gets cracking on some of the town’s toughest cases – like that of a missing swan.
The breaking dawn of reality that the most exciting facets of this ostensibly idyllic settlement are garden parties and the weekly neighborhood-watch meeting only add to Angel’s growing frustrations. But like all good detectives, the far-from-home-and-fury law-enforcer begins to see cracks in the town’s veneer when a series of anomalous and baffling events are flounced aside as 'accidents'.
If Sandford is indeed a sleeping tiger, then it’s about to get one hell of wake-up call, as Angel – armed with his replenished instincts and an awe-struck sidekick – sets out to unearth the commodity of truth. And that’s where the real fun begins.
Pegg, Frost and Wright, who accumatively wrote the screenplay, are adroit enough entertainers to know how to avoid any over-reference or resemblance to past successes. And, in many ways, Fuzz is a clever reversal of Shaun of the Dead’s design of amiable guy thrown into extreme circumstances in a bid to restore order, with the conversely extreme character of Angel as the fish-out-of-water finding himself in seemingly peaceful environs as a bringer of chaos.
Aside from the inverted prototypical subterfuge, it would be largely unfair to compare the two. Meaning all the more credit on merit, considering the weight of expectation augmented by their previous big-screen endeavour. And not many comedies can stretch two hours and still provide enough laughs and gaffs to make it seem like half of that. 'Time' indeed 'flies', as they say.
Fuzz isn't completely without its niggling and largely avoidable imperfections, most tellingly the swift and speedy compressional cuts – an evocative nod in the direction of the 'hip-hop montages' in Requiem for a Dream – appear funny at first but grow tiresome and prehistoric come the ninth and tenth time. Maybe that's being a little too harsh, but nevertheless did come as a surprising piece of disregard from a group of filmmakers who so clearly and accurately understand the needs of their audience.
That said, Hot Fuzz is a thoroughly enjoyable endeavour which will no doubt wash down well with the army of fans this close-knit team have deservedly secured, and go some way to winning a few more.
© David Mahmoudieh 2007
posted by David Mahmoudieh at 1:45 AM
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