A western and cop-movie inspired, self aware parody turned fanboy creation; Hot Fuzz is sandwiched between two other well known and loved cult favorite films directed by Edgar Wright. It has something for everyone to enjoy. Do you want action? Humor? Mystery? Friendship? Hot Fuzz is a great film for an entertainment-seeking audience and can still be thoroughly enjoyed by a cinephile. 

Hot Fuzz is about an overachieving and uptight police officer: Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg). He is transferred to a small town where he makes friends with fellow officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) and slowly unravels the town’s secrets.

What Edgar Wright does masterfully is using the film medium fully for humor. Instead of relying on just the script and actors all the elements of film are used to make the audience laugh. Cinematography, sound design, set and costume design are all used to craft jokes. Much of the film is ridiculous and over-dramatic and makes you laugh even if it’s not an obvious joke. Wright lovingly parodies Hollywood film-making by using overused Hollywood clichés in a new way. 

Wright uses the zoom-swipe-cut for montages and sets the tone for the pacing of the film. Everything that isn’t important to the story or a joke is cut and shortened. Wright uses this and other uncommon cinematography techniques to create humor. Tight zooms into faces add drama but also humor. The camera acts as an extension of our eyes and forces the audience where and how to look. 

Wright loves to juxtapose things for comedic effect. He contrasts things like ‘advanced driving’ and ‘advanced cycling’ in the introduction of Angel (Pegg). It’s shot almost identically but something is different. By doing so you tell the audience to compare cycling and driving. Later the line “you’re pulling my leg”, is inter-cut with a murderer pulling someone’s leg literally. Not only are things verbally compared but match cuts and self-referential bits are used throughout.

Wright loves to develop running gags and easter eggs. For the attentive watcher you find foreshadowing for events throughout the movie. A swear jar with “all proceeds to the restoration of the church roof” is used by the characters and later a part of the church roof is dislodged to commit a murder. There are countless self-references like this throughout the movie that reward observant audiences. Characters say “hopefully that’s the last we’ll see of him” and “I would not want to be him in the morning” unintentionally (but intentional in the script) before someone is killed and you catch yourself laughing at the victim’s demise.

Hot Fuzz has an incredibly high attention to detail and is often absurd and completely hilarious.
Watching it you feel that every single prop, shot, line was intentional. Hot Fuzz feels fresh to someone who is used to average comedy films. It manages to be a love letter to Hollywood action movies whilst parodying tropes and crafting excellent humor.