Hot Fuzz
Maybe it's due to the fact that I've been away from the UK for so long, but I've really been going nuts for idiosyncratically British things recently (I ADORED
Flushed Away); as such, I had a total blast with
Hot Fuzz.
People describe it as a "cop movie spoof", but that doesn't quite capture it for me, because it's so affectionate towards its target, and plays it so straight at times, that it's really more of a cop movie homage or tribute. Moreover, over the course of the movie it often channels quite a few other genres; British police shows like
The Bill, Agatha Christie mysteries, even
Wicker Man-esque horror and
Scream-style slasher movies (some of the gore in this is so OTT it's actually funny). It sounds like a ludicrous hodgepodge, and to an extent it is, but it actually
works, mostly thanks to the great script and perfectly judged central performances by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, with Timothy Dalton chipping in as an amusingly cartoonish villain. Then there's the Englishness...even leaving aside the fact that almost every role is played by a top British comedy star (I was very impressed with the triple whammy of Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy near the opening, and I'm impressed by Bill Bailey in
any context
), I just can't convey how happy it made this homesick expat to see a full-on Michael Bay-style shootout taking place in a branch of Somerfield (one of the UK's least glamorous and mundane supermarket chains, and that's saying something
), with bullets ripping through jars of Dolmio bolognese sauce and cops smashing villainous thugs through a shelf stacked with Crunchy Nut and Special K cereal.
Heartily recommended, even if you're not English, but particularly if you are. I've not seen
Shaun of the Dead, but I feel I probably ought to now...