Hot Fuzz
So today I wandered down the street with a friend of mine to see this Hot Fuzz movie. I picked up a turkey sandwich with swiss, roasted peppers, mustard-- and a 24 oz. Silver Bullet. I had myself a little mid-afternoon snacky snack beery beer while checking out this flick. I went to the theater close by my house that has seats that don't rock and every time I sit down in there I immediately try to rock and feel disappointed by the seat heismanship. But whatever. It's a trade off to the other theater where there are usually more talkers and kids and stuff.
Anyway, this flick is put together with the same gang from Shaun of the Dead which I liked alot. I think these Brits are funny and Fat and Skinny make a nice goofball combo. I didn't have huge expectations going into the flick because all I heard is 'It's good.... but not as good as Shaun'. And for me I really liked Shaun alot-- but I don't umm... own it on DVD or nuttin. (Maybe because they stole my zombie movie idea out of my head so I totally resent it!!! But whatever!!!). So hardcore Shaun fans might be more bonery over this flick than I was.
I was a little nervous about the cop/parody thing. I mean, I can't really take more than 10 minutes of Reno 911 in one sitting. (I like that show but only for a rubberneck peep while flipping by). And movies and spoofs usually don't go down easy for me. Fortunately the dudes behind this flick are way too smart and funny to simply take a couple jokes and club them over the head. They have like a twenty great jokes that they suplex and pummel to a bright red splattery pulp.
I gotta admit it took me a while to adjust to "Shaun" being this new supercop guy. I kept seeing... not the new supercop guy. Fortunately the funny kicked in and soon distracted me from that distraction. Plus it had some fancy directorial tricks which I liked looking at. Story was good too. But around the half-hour mark I started to notice I wasn't laughing out loud as much as I thought I might. (I always laugh out loud at the violence but that's sort of a gimme. Someone gets stabbed in the neck and blood sprays everywhere. I'm gonna laugh). I was really liking watching this flick and dug how smart it was-- but for whatever reason... I wasn't laughing out loud at the jokes. And they were funny!
Yadda whatever the movie goes on and sort of gets tangled in the plot which dragged a little-- but just at the point where I started to feel like checking my watch, this flick finally kicked it into high gear. This movie really pulled itself together to have all out action flick funny fun for the last twenty minutes or so. Guns blaring. Spoofiness done right. Good violence. Good out loud laughs. Yelling and crankup music. Bad guy payback. The action had finally really arrived! Sirens blaring! --but couldn't help feeling it arrived on the scene... slightly late.
Three Good Things About this Movie
- I want to see it again.
- I think those two dudes are really friggin good together. I feel like I could
watch a movie of them just sitting there eating pizza.
- I actually was surprised that I wasn't able to guess what was coming in terms
of bad guy land.
Three Bad Things About this Movie
- I found myself confused by the plot for a good chuck in the mid-section.
- The local townsfolk could have been more standoutish and personality bright.
- I couldn't place Timothy Dalton the whole time and got annoyed that I couldn't
think of his name.
All in all, this is the best comedy since the borat. I'm happy to think about these two guys knocking their heads together like coconuts and spraying blood everywhere for our amusement again and again. Both Shaun and this flick are totally good outside the box fresh ripeness. But with this flick, I just wasn't big belly laughing all over the place like I wanted to (except for the violence). I was more chuckily and snorty and smililey appreciative of its smartness. Which just seemed like kind of a british reaction--- but in my heart, I wanted to downright love it... American style.
PS. Sorry Fuzz lovers out there. Don't hate me.