Whats all the fuzz about! (Hot Fuzz (Special Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Hot Fuzz (Special Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	28/09/07 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny and warm comedy

Disadvantages: Perhaps too long

What’s all the fuzz about…?

After the runaway comedy success of Shaun of the Dead, which saw comedians Nick Frost (he’s the fat one more recently in the BBC2s enjoyable Hyperdrive) and Simon Pegg (alongside Frost in the cult C4 sitcom ‘Space’ fame) sending up and paying homage to the classic zombie horror genre of the grizzly seventies, the team are reapplying the same formulae to Britain’s police force here, no doubt one of many variations to come as the boys become our new Carry On team.

With Edgar Wright again directing, the guys haven’t quite managed to hit the heights of the first movie here, but just about get away with it as far as entertainment goes, plenty of familiar pub gags and British slapstick humor to keep you on board, perhaps a less knowing movie made to earn a bigger audience and gross when all said and done.

There are plenty of police in-jokes and political comment on the state of the police force…sorry…police service! , but if you’re not a copper then you will need one of the excellent audio commentaries to find the joke, Pegg and Frost again reveling in hiding scenes and dialect from their favorite films in their own movies le schoolboys. This can get self-indulgent at times and some scenes seemed force and written around stuff they wanted to put in relating to those favorite movies.

The trio really enjoy making their dreams come true on screen and, like the Harry potter movies, many top names wanted to be involved this time, here the likes of Edward Woodward, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent and even Kate Blanchet turning up in cameos and star turns to give the film real ironic class British film oomph. As Edward Woodward is in the movie then the Whicker Man is inevitably sent up somewhere in the two hours, as are many other horror and cop classics, from Bad Boys to The Omen…

-The plot-
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Nick Angel (Simon Pegg) is the Mets elite S019 top beat-bobby, solving 400% more crimes than any other officer in the capital, and for that heinous crime he has to be transferred out by his commanding officer (Martin Freeman of The Office), agreed on by his station chief (Steve Coogan), Chief Inspector (movie whore Bill Nighy) rubber stamping the move to stop making the force look bad. With no super cop the department can relax. But no relaxing for the residents of Sanford (normally the name of the fictional police village used in training video’s for all real recruits), the small rural habitat and contender for village of the year assigned Sergeant Angel to keep the peace.

His partner on the beat is chubby and bungling Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), son of station Chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). After pi**ing off most of the station and the local pub with yet more arrests he begins to teach a keen and wide eyed Danny the way of big city policing, even though there isn’t much big city policing to be done. The local Neighborhood watch scheme, the ‘NWA’, headed by the all seeing civil liaison officer (Ed Woodward) are more concerned with local petty crime and keeping the village pristine clean in an attempt to defend their British village of the year title, than Angels bigger concerns. The big issue for NWA right now is one of those living statue artistes has turned up in the main square, which could lead to crusty jugglers, shock horror, if they don’t act soon.

But Sanford (the cathedral city of Wells) has a bit of the Royston Vasey about it and has its dark secrets, Angel soon on to something big, local supermarket owner Simon Skinner (Tim Dalton) at the heart of the intrigue. When bodies start turning up in the village, dying gruesome deaths, Angel is invigorated and soon getting Danny involved in some real policing, instead of chasing around for missing swans and reporting graffiti for the nimbi villagers. But just who is involved...

-Any Good-
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It’s not as fresh and original as Shaun of the Dead but it does have its moments. If I tell you the clip where Danny jumps through the fence is the funniest bit (and so in the trailer) then you can see whats coming.
Its far more ITV than C4, clearly written and directed to appeal ro a more simplistic and diverse demographic. The jokes are obvious and the fact Pegg plays it straight throughout, leaving the other main characters more scope for laughs, means there’s something for every one to get their teeth into, Broadbent particularly good as the avuncular station sergeant.

At two hours its 20 minutes too long and there aren’t enough belly laughs to fill that time on screen. I suspect it’s overly long to give all the big names in the cast some chunky parts-Kate Blanchett playing Angel’s girlfriend a really funny in-gag-but it does sag at times as the big hitting gags and social comment of Shawn of the Dead can’t be found here. Ed Woodward seems to revel on screen playing his ironic Whicker Man role and you can tell by the commentaries that it was fun set to work on.

= = = Bonus features = = =

-The man who would be fuzz-

A 10 second Michael Caine line, in keeping with the boy’s silliness.

-Outtakes-

Lots of corpsing and bloopers

-Storyboards-

I’m never really sure who cares about these being on the DVD.

-Hot Funk-

TV censored version of the movie where f**k off is replaced by funk off etc…ho ho!

-Fuzz Focus-

Scrolling text below the film identifies quirky and interesting points in the film-like 27 sirens were used in the making of Hot Fuzz….

-Audio Commentaries-

We have four in total and very talky and informal, the best way to do it. There is one by Pegg and Wright, another by Pegg, Frost and the big names in the cast. To give other cast members a crack they get their own commentary. Two real coppers who worked as consultants, comparing real policing to Frost and Pegg’s policing, also get one. We are informed why it’s now the ‘police service’ not the police ‘force’. I have never seen four audio commentary options before.

Summary: Carry on Pegg and Frost..