Hot Fuzz 2007

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Overall Hot Fuzz could use a bit more speed to outrun its demons. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: What will Wright and Pegg set their targets for next? I don't know, but I'll be watching. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: On the strength of Shaun of the Dead, his droll zombie bash, the spot-on Don't Scream trailer in Grindhouse and now this, director Edgar Wright is one of the four or five contemporary directors of comedy worth watching. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Hot Fuzz is fun, and it's nice to see all the English character actors who aren't busy in Harry Potter films, but it lacks its predecessor's freshness. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The transplanted action cliches mix easily with the eccentric English characters, and as a director Wright is adept at framing and cutting for excitement as well as laughs. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's follow-up effort to their smash success Shaun of the Dead skillfully eludes the dread sophomore slump. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Hot Fuzz is everything an action-comedy should be. It achieves through parody what most films in the genre can't accomplish straight. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Go, laugh and try to figure out the mystery. But be warned: You'll be checking your watch before it's over. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's to the Lethal Weapon movies what left-hand driving on a country lane is to a freeway chase: pokey, more than a little daft, but with a bloody surprise around every hedge. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: It's a ridiculous plot, but one that's absolutely in the spirit of the films they're satirizing. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Does for British cops what Shaun of the Dead did for the undead -- and that's a good thing. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: For a movie based on the stunted mental development and perfect action timing of American crime-fighting pics, Hot Fuzz has surprisingly little idea of how to get to its point, or when. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Hot Fuzz is warm at the beginning, too cool in the middle and boiling at the end -- which makes it too close to lukewarm. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [A] very funny cop comedy. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: These bad boys are obviously having fun, and so will you. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Hot Fuzz is the funniest send-up of slam-bang action mayhem since Team America: World Police. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: For most of its running time, it's an enjoyably unpretentious celebration of the guilty pleasure we can take from a stupid-as-all-get-out car chase or from watching things blow up real good. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: A breakneck action-comedy that could put the final digit on Lethal Weapon and its kind, if there is any mercy. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Summer hasn't arrived, but the funniest riff on a summer movie genre has already landed. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: The movie duly quickens into pursuits of every speed, and the homage to action thrillers is there in the smallest detail; the clicking of a ballpoint pen, say, is amplified to sound as menacing as the cocking of a gun. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Hot Fuzz runs a bit long for a cop spoof, but it is also one of the funniest law enforcement comedies this side of The Naked Gun. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Pegg and Wright are armed with an endlessly impressive arsenal of attention grabbers, from witty editing tricks to a wry soundtrack and a joke-packed script that demands multiple viewings. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The U.S. audience may be stung to find beloved action cliches desecrated, but these Britheimers are on to something. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Think of Hot Fuzz, a British parody of Hollywood-style action flicks, as The Full Monty blown to smithereens. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: This rude, bodily fluid-spattered romp is like the Red Bull version of every bad buddy police picture a little Lethal Weapon, a lot of Bad Boys, and waaaaay too much Point Break. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Although Hot Fuzz is a good 30 minutes too long (the ending -- or endings -- are endless), it is also good for long stretches of laughs. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This movie wants to tickle the funny bone while telling a story that's worth telling. For the most part, [director] Wright achieves this aim. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Hot Fuzz may not quite hit the same level of raucous mayhem [as Shaun of the Dead]. But I think it's even sharper and funnier, and Wright and Pegg never run out of ideas. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Only people who have an equal fondness for strolls through English cottage gardens and Dirty Harry movies are going to fall madly in love with the film, but just about everybody is going to like it. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It's such a vibrant goof, so full of love both for the movies and for its cast of ridiculous characters that you forgive it the odd soggy stretch. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: An exuberant, ultraviolent and uproarious satire. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Because this culture-clash comedy has real characters, a real story and a real big payoff, the two-hour length is a light sentence. Read more

Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times: The straight-faced spoof is really quite funny, if you can get beyond the graphic gore and mind-numbing final 30 minutes. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Hot Fuzz may not be quite at its predecessor's mark, but the cast sure is -- they're all, every last one of them, Shauns of the Deadpan. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: What prevents Hot Fuzz from crossing over into already well-travelled Naked Gun territory is the constant bouncing of high-Hollywood style and the timid, teatime setting. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Wright and Pegg have topped Shaun of the Dead by trans(atlantic)planting a whole gaggle of genres. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: It's not a perfect template - running motifs are glaringly flagged up and there are at least two too many climaxes - but for both gags and thrills, few current British filmmakers come close. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though it's no Monty Python, Hot Fuzz is a clever, over-the-top marriage of mayhem and merriment. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: A straight-faced British spoof of everything from Yank crimers and slasher pics to Agatha Christie whodunits and homoerotic U.S. buddy movies. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It's a little gloomier, a little coarser, and a lot more cerebral -- oh, and funnier than all the Reno 911! boxed sets combined. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Hot Fuzz could easily have lost 20 minutes or so in jittery montages and stylized set pieces. But for viewers in the mood for smart-stupid slapstick, it's a diverting jape. Read more