Stereotype comedy is increasingly seen as an easy way to make money, especially from the teenage market (witness the Scary Movie series, Epic Movie, etc). It would thus be unfair to accuse Hot Fuzz of striking originality; however it is still relatively fresh in its execution. Pegg is as funny a tough guy with a softie inside as he is softie with tough guy inside (Shaun of the Dead) and Frost is a pretty perfect foil.
The exaggerated gore factor is high as was the case with Shaun. As a film it is very much as it is billed ‘from the makers of…’, although thankfully we are spared any in-jokes. It seems like Pegg intends to do a tour of all the different movie genres and lampoon them each in turn. This will be no bad thing as long as innovation is shown along the way and it doesn’t rely on a formulaic ‘guaranteed cash-cow’ approach. The demise of the Scary Movie franchise should provide a stark warning to Working Title of the dangers of that approach.
However, as with Shaun, it’s one flaw is the way that sometimes you get the feeling the film is taking itself too seriously. I think this is something to do with Pegg himself who seems to try and step out of the comedy when the serious moments arrive. It lends them an awkward feel and in some way spoils the flow of the movie. If you are looking for serious themes then there is the buddy cop bonding of Frost and Pegg, Pegg’s journey of self-discovery and the underlying theme is that trying to perfect the un-perfectible (ie, human beings) is bad and leads to much badness and imperfection. This is one movie where I simply wouldn’t bother; just sit back, munch your popcorn in between giggles, and enjoy the full fury of the Fuzz.
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