Sunday, April 22, 2007

Hot Fuzz: This shit just got real.

I read the Hot Fuzz script. I had seen countless clips. I met Edgar Wright. I spent all day on the 19th pulling overwhelmingly positive reviews. I felt as if I had seen the film, without actually seeing it. And still, none of that could have prepared me for how amazingly funny and brilliantly violent the film was.

You know the premise. You know that it pays homage to Point Break and Bad Boys II. You know that an old woman gets kicked in the face (and that, my friends, is some funny shit). But trust me, there's more funny shit than they can show in the commercials. And it's so ridiculously over the top violent and absurdly silly and well written and directed that it works way better than the movies it spoofs, even when it crosses from action movie spoof to action movie actuality at the end. Edgar Wright has quite a knack for directing action scenes.

There's just so much that works so well, not the least of which is the cast. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost pretty much reprise the relationship dynamic that worked so well for them in Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and... real life, as all the pre-Fuzz interviews reiterate. What's also awesome about Hot Fuzz is the supporting cast. Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine (who was unexpectedly hilarious to someone who had only seen him in In America), Martin Freeman, cameos by Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson... basically a dream cast of wonderful British character actors.

On a side note, I think Simon Pegg is on the verge of breaking out into a big-ass star, and I couldn't be happier. Best evidence of this? My rather mainstream roommate saying to me: "So I was on IMDB this morning trying to find out if Simon Pegg was married..."

I really think that Hot Fuzz is one of those movies that affirms your love of movies. Not because it's good (even though it is), but because it was written and directed by two people who are making movies because they love movies. And you've gotta love that.

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