Move Over Miss Marple

(I'm just reposting an old one from a few years ago... but I like it and it's all still true... next up will be the "Harry Potter" review, followed by a brief dissertation on children's movies... if I make myself write it...)

I don’t know what you were planning to do tonight, but trust me, “Hot Fuzz” is way more fun.

Did you see “Shaun of the Dead”? Doesn’t matter. “Hot Fuzz” is probably the best movie I’ve seen in theatres since 2005, and that’s saying something. Each joke is carefully, lovingly laid out, and even when I saw it coming, I didn’t see it coming. I laughed so hard at some parts that my stomach started to hurt. Even when I wasn’t supposed to be laughing, the smile lasted long after the punchline had been delivered.

Simon Pegg plays the lead, “Nicholas Angel,” a cop who’s too good at what he does. He is sent to the country to mind a peaceful village so he no longer makes his London coworkers look bad. Angry, tense, but somewhat defeated, Nick heads to “Sandford” in order to take over as sergeant. Soon after his arrival, a death (or a few) occur, and it’s up to Nick Angel to find out what’s going on.

For those of you who’ve actually seen “Shaun of the Dead”, you’ll recognize Nick Frost returning as Pegg’s right hand man. The movie pushes them together in a manner less lazy than that of “Shaun,” but it feels more natural. Nick Frost plays “Danny,” but I’ll let you find out who he is in terms of the town. It’s part of the fun.

“Hot Fuzz” is about as silly as they come, but it’s also endearing without trying to be, and it entertains better than, well, anything else I’ve seen in recent memory. The acting was convincing, and while the leads made the movie, the side characters were necessary to the magic. Jim Broadbent (Gangs of New York, Brazil, Bridget Jones’ Diary) was solidly iffy as the Chief Inspector of Sandford. Paddy Considine (In America, highly recommended) did a bang-up job of being an hilarious ass, and Timothy Dalton (Bond, James Bond) was smarmy personified as a local merchant. Really, everyone was fantastic, and the script was so good that it probably hid anyone who wasn’t.

The jokes start so early in this movie that you’ll have barely settled into your seat, and they don’t stop. Every time I wanted something to happen, it happened. Once, I hadn’t even realized how badly I needed that kick to the face to happen, but the makers of “Hot Fuzz” took care of it for me anyway. Never has murder been so funny, so riotous, and so delightfully un-subtle. It oddly has all the charm of a traditional English murder mystery combined with some Monty Python type humor and then some new twists all its own.

The best part about the movie was that it didn’t seem self-conscious and awkward. It was the ultimate buddy flick, and it didn’t seem uncomfortable with that. If I ever needed a way to say to my friends, “I love you guys”, taking them to this movie would be it. One scene in the movie takes place in a grocery store, and involves a comment about a freezer. The brief exchange that follows is one of the sweetest moments in a movie that I have ever witnessed, and I love Pegg and Frost for creating it.

There was a line I really loved, but I’ll have to wait to see it again (and remember a pen this time—I know, that doesn’t help you, sorry.) In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this thought: what do "He-Man", a sea mine, and Harry Potter’s "Argus Filch" have in common? To find out, watch “Hot Fuzz”!

I recommend it to anyone over the age of 17. ANYONE.