the movieGOOMBA

3.5 GOOMBAS

It's been ages since this film came out, and it's also been ages since I watched it; at least three weeks, but I'm blogging about it anyway. I've really had no motivation to write these past few days. I need to take a dose of creative juice . . . they probably sell it at Target. Target has everything . . . see what I mean? That joke wasn't even funny! I'm losing it, and now this is turning into some kind of ramble. You're saying "Why the hell doesn't she just stop and think for a while before typing it out on the blog and wasting our time?" Because I'm doing that elementary school thing where you just write about what you're thinking without having your pen leave the paper; just a steady stream of thought. I forget what that's called . . . "Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?' " That wasn't me, that was from the movie Hot Fuzz.

Now, to people in the States, "Fuzz" may not make any sense, let alone "Hot Fuzz." Fuzz is just a snazzy British equivalent for cop. Those Brits sure come up with a grip of dope slang; fo shizzle mai nizzle. From the makers of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as members of the British law enforcement. Nicholas Angel, played by Pegg, is a goodie-goodie, over-achiever of London's finest. He makes everyone look like a schmuck because of his unceasing accomplishments, so his superiors send him to the small, remote town of Sandford, where he can't make them look bad. Yet while there, Angel begins to notice strange things happening in the village city, and he won't stop until he tickets every elderly jay-walker, arrests all under-age vandals, and uncovers a giant murder mystery/cover-up.

Hot Fuzz has the the same clever, camp tone of Shaun of the Dead, and is immensely funny without being at all corny. There are some really great sequences that spoof on some American action flicks, and the plot and story line were well defined and playfully thought out. Achieving a sinister, yet comical tone is very difficult to accomplish, but Hot Fuzz managed to do it with ease. My favorite part was the final, bad-boys shooting scenes where ridiculousness was rampant but peculiarly bad-ass. The movie was a bit slow at first and a bit longer than I wished it would have been (2 hour running time), but it was smart and silly, as dark comedies should be.

Viewers should be warned that there are some gory blood and guts scenes. A lot of the murders aren't neat and tidy. It actually seems worse because of the type of film it is; you don't expect some one's head to smush that way. Maybe in Saw 3, but not here.

I really appreciate Hot Fuzz as a film. It's a great movie to watch when you just need to laugh at something ridiculous. Although I still don't understand why the Fuzz is "hot" per-say (must be a British thing), its British humor is delightful especially since the actors say their punch lines with such sincere seriousness. Who could not like a movie that has the line, "Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?' " in it?