HOT FUZZ Review:
- Put simply, these guys get it. Director Edgar Wright, along with his Shaun of the Dead collaborators - Simon Pegg and Nick Frost - just have this innate sense of how to extrapolate everything that is cool about a particular genre and then use those elements to produce brillaint satire. Just as Shaun of the Dead was to Zombie flicks, Hot Fuzz is to cop movies. It's Point Break, Bad Boys, Dirty Harry, Tango and Cash, Die Hard, etc - made with a sensibilty that's something like Quentin Tarantino meets Monty Python.
But the genius of these guys isn't just that they create hilarious comedies that lampoon a particular genre. The brilliance is that, in doing so, they actually manage to create movies that are legitimate entries in that genre in their own right. Hott Fuzz isn't just a goofy satire in the vein of Naked Gun (and trust me, I love Naked Gun), it's also a great cop movie in and of itself. It has heroes, villains, a compelling mystery, cool action, and takes itself just seriously enough that it never becomes complete farce. But like the Grindhouse double features, Hot Fuzz celebrates its source material as much as it satirizes. These guys clearly love all of those old-school cop movies, hell, even Michael Bay gets put on a pedestal.
The movie is interesting in that it has 3 clearly distinct acts. The first act kind of sets up the story and the characters, and is all about Simon Pegg's straight-laced, spartan cop being transferred from London to one of England's smallest villages. The second act is almost slasher-movie esque, as this same small village is victim to a rash of gruesome murders. The third act is probably the most fun - things just become crazy as the movie transforms into an over-the-top shoot-em-up action flick, as we see an all-out showdown between Pegg and Frost versus the entire village that they have sworn to protect. Each act has slightly different tone and pacing, but they all fit together extremely well and present a few different ways of parodying the cop movie genre.
Pegg and Frost are, once again, superb. They have great comic timing, and at the same time they have a great on-screen friendship that makes for both a great buddy story and a hilarious sendup of all the typical buddy-movie conventions.
The supporting cast here is GREAT as well. Former Bond, Timothy Dalton, OWNS this movie as a flippant villain, channeling his part in The Rocketeer to great effect. This guy is great, and hilarious to boot. We also get tons of cameos from recognizable British comedians. Martin Freeman and Stephen Merchant from THE OFFICE make funny cameos, as do Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy. What it all adds up to is a movie that is just freakin' hilarious, especially in the over the top third act. Definitely one of the most quotable comedies I've seen in a while.
Basically - if you like funny movies, and if you have even a semi-appreciation for the cop / action movies of the 70's / 80's / 90's, you have to see HOT FUZZ asap. My complaints are few and far between - mainly, I got a little tired of Wright's constant quick-cut montages, though I appreciate the carry-over of the same over-the-top directorial style from Shaun. The movie runs perhaps a bit too long as well, with a few scenes that tend to drag a bit.
But in the end - I give FUZZ my highest recommendation - it's too bad most Americans get scared off by British accents - this movie deserved to do better at the box office over here. This is top-shelf stuff - laugh out loud funny, smart, and a spot-on parody of cop films. I'd go so far as to say it is even more of a creative success than Shaun of the Dead was - it just hits the mark in most every way. Plus, after Hot Fuzz, you'll never look at Point Break the same way again.
My Grade: A -
THE TV SET Review:
- I was almost preprogrammed to like The TV Set. It stars David Duchovny, an actor who played perhaps my all-time favorite television character, Fox Mulder, for nine years, on my all-time favorite TV drama, The X-Files. It's about a subject near and dear to me - The TV industry, which I've been immersed in for the last few years. More specifically, it's a dark comedy that aims to spoof the airheadedness that so often seems to rear its head in the TV biz, which anyone who's worked in TV for even a short amount of time has likely seen their fair share of. Suffice to say, I went into this movie, which is out now in very limited release, VERY curious and interested in what it had to say about the crazy world of television.
And man, this movie was just spot-on. So spot-on in its satire that it was almost depressing in the accuracy of its bleak observations. This is a very funny movie, simply because it is a razor-sharp, no-holds-barred send-up of an industry that can at times live up to its worst critics' condemnations. Duchovny plays a put-upon TV writer who seems to be on the verge of his big break. He has an original pilot that has been optioned by a fictional 5th TV net, and is in consideration to air on the fall schedule. The new TV show, called The Wexler Chronicles, is presented as a smart, darkly-humorous comedy that is semi-autobiographical, as it is centered around a young guy who has to move on with his life after his brother's tragic suicide - mirroring events in the writer's own life. Of course, what happens is that The Wexler Chronicles soon becomes the poster-boy for the mistakes that can be made in bringing a show from concept to execution. The premise gets watered down (the suicide - the whole backbone of the series - is taken out!), the network demands baffling rewrites, questionable actors get cast, and a wannabe-auteur director is selected who quickly precedes to muck things up.
David Duchovny is at his best here, bringing his trademark knack for dry humor to the table and doing a great job as a beleagured writer on the verge of a breakdown. The real show-stealer though is Sigourney Weaver, who is hilarious and eerily accurate in her portrayal of a shallow network exec, who turns every conversation into a discussion of the TV industry, whose concern for people is limited only to how their well-being affects her program schedule, and who dismisses marriage as a roadblock to 24/7 focus on her vapid job. Weaver is hilarious and frightening - this for her is a truly memorable comedic role.
There are a lot of other great turns as well. Ian Gruffold, known to many as Mr. Fantastic, does an excellent job as a former BBC exec who is brought in to class up the American network that Weaver runs. Gruffold's turn here is both funny and deeply tragic - in getting caught up in the rat race that is the world of broadcast TV, he loses everything - his family, his dignity ... It's all actually pretty profound in addition to being humorous. Dawn from the UK Office does a nice job as his wife as well. The rest of the cast is also great - with the same mix of poignancy and hilarity one might find in a great Christopher Guest movie. Except, where Guest's recent attempt to parody Hollywood, For Your Consideration, misfired, The TV Set is spot-on.
For those of you who work in TV, see this movie at your own peril - it may leave you self-doubting, depressed and wanting to move out of Hollywood and get on the next flight for Nowhereseville. Everyone else will laugh their asses off, but in that same uncomfortable, almost disturbing way that something like The Office elicits - where laughter is the only response to the sheer sense of uncomfortableness. All TV execs should be strapped down and forced to watch this, to ensure that they DON'T act like the people in this movie. For anyone else looking for a great, smart satire of the media and entertainment industry, for anyone wondering "just how does all that dumb crap make it on to the airwaves?" - you need to seek this one out.
My Grade: A -
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