DVD Pick: Hot Fuzz

This film's premise is pretty straightforward: top cop gets shuttled off to a sleepy little village, mainly because he's making the rest of the local force look bad, where he runs afoul of the more "relaxed", rustic atmosphere expected by the locals, before discovering that all isn't well in the village. Of course, if that were the entire story, I wouldn't be recommending it...

The funny thing about this film is, for all it's set up mimics any of a number of "cop working outside the system" films, it lulls you throughout the majority of the film into thinking it's just a comedy about a big city cop trying to cope with the "rigors" of working in a small village... then it lulls you into thinking there's just one madman out there causing havoc. Only in the final half hour do you get the "big reveal"... and, honestly, it's something irrational to somebody who hasn't been watching the film up to that point, but makes sick, perfect sense in context... enough so that I wondered, more than once, whether the hero was suffering some kind of psychotic break, instead of finally digging up "the truth". Beyond that point, all sorts of fun ensues, including some takes on standard action-movie tropes with a small village bent to them... it had me laughing out loud more than once, which is really quite rare for a film.

So, if you've got a couple hours to spare, and are looking for a laugh (especially if you liked Shaun of the Dead, which is where some of the players came across my screen first), give Hot Fuzz a go... if you stick it out to the end, I don't think you'll regret it.