Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on May 29, 2007 at 08:05:19

...had disappeared thirty, forty years ago; Waking Ned Devine, fairly trivial and boring, was no exception. Now we have Hot Fuzz, which exploits every cliche of the genre by taking it "to the max". The first hour properly puts a smile on your face, as any gentle non-jokey comedy will; then, as the reassigned City police "officer" (he's very prim about proper terminology. Also: "We don't say 'police force' any longer; 'force' has been found too aggressive; now we say, 'police service'.") begins to catch on to the doings of the local syndicate (yes!) he refuses to obey his chief's orders to lay off, and when forwardly confronted (by a bullet), he escalates the response force (yes!) to absurdly hilarious levels.

Our picture-perfect, award-winning village does indeed have criminal elements (early-on we espy a little group of hoodies), but we don't guess what the particular criminal intent is (well, murder, of course...) until the reveal.

Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) and his buddy Nick Frost are superb and straight-faced throughout, while all the lesser roles are played by veteran British character actors, and some not so veteran: the two young policemen who forever taunt our man are immensely dislikeable -- I loved them! Perhaps towards the end a few minutes that slow down the action might be cut, but it's a minor criticism. After Hot Fuzz, the village comedy may never be able to resurrect itself.

clark