Action movie parody proves to be seriously funny

By Maggie Beidelman

Bursting fits of laughter and spontaneous audience applause don't lie. "Hot Fuzz" is a ridiculously fun film, perhaps the best comedy of the year.

Actor/writer Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright perfected the comedy of caricature with "Shaun of the Dead," a parody on the infamous zombie movie, "Dawn of the Dead."

Now, "Hot Fuzz" continues this hilarious satire of melodramatic blockbusters, overplaying the violence, cheesy lines and action sequences of cheap action/crime films like "Bad Boys II" and "Point Break," but with experience and flair.

Unlike most action comedies, "Hot Fuzz" skillfully toes the line between fascination and farce.

Its raw entertainment is half uproarious, mouth-covering morbidity and half ridiculous satire.

Protagonist Nicholas Angel is the best officer in the London police force, a perfectionist who cares only about enforcing the law and watering his own Japanese peace lily.

He has an arrest record 400 percent higher than any other police officer in the field, and his performance makes his superiors look so bad that they send him off to be sergeant in the small countryside village of Sanford.

At first glance, Sanford appears to be the perfect, crime-free town with the stereotypical loony countryside kooks.

Further investigation by the astute officer Angel proves otherwise, however, as a series of crass so-called accidents provoke his curiosity.

Angel is paired with the less-than-brainy officer Danny Butterman, who has an obsession with action movies and desires to one day be the "bad boy" of high-speed car pursuits, passionate gunfights and sensational one-liners.

The arrival of Angel on the scene begins to fulfill Butterman's desires.

Wherever Angel is, there's action, and vice-versa.

For Butterman, it's like the ultimate action blockbuster come to life in this rural village that is full of unanswered secrets.

Though the first third of the movie appears to be another badly done spoof, you will not stay speculative for long.

These boys have done their homework.

The movie trailer accurately credits this movie to be "from the guys who watched every action movie ever made."

A sudden plot twist makes sense out of all the absurdity, and what at first seemed to be a cheesy takeoff of action films with heightened sound effects and exaggerated melodramatics becomes merely the display of Pegg's and Wright's genius of parody.

In this film, there are more guns than anyone should ever need.

The sound effects are overly embellished.

The action sequences have far too many frames together in the exaggerated whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of fast-paced melodrama.

The violence is excessively gory, and the sensational one-liners are unbearable.

And these ever-present flaws, typical of cliched action movies, are exactly what make this parody a pleasure.

Here comes the fuzz.

Grade: A-

Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.