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Conventional wisdom, for many years, went that American audiences and British humour just didn't mix. Apart from legions of cultish fans who could quote Python chapter and verse, and PBS viewers glued to re-runs of Upstairs, Downstairs and Fawlty Towers, most American audiences seemed either to not get it, or just not care. But the recent pond-crossing successes of Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais suggests that maybe tastes are changing on this side of the pond. Or that we were never really that different to begin with. Simon Pegg is of the latter opinion.
Pegg, writing partner and director Edgar Wright, and best friend and regular co-star Nick Frost have been mining the spot where British comedy and American culture meet ever since their groundbreaking sitcom Spaced in 1999, and continuing with their cult hit zombie romantic comedy Shaun of the Dead. The latter was actually popular enough that one is tempted to drop the "cult" modifier. Their latest is the action cop comedy Hot Fuzz, about London police officer Nicholas Angel, played by Pegg, who has such a stellar service record that he gets shipped out to the sticks for making the rest of the force look bad. In a tiny rustic village where an escaped swan seems the biggest trouble he'll run into, he's partnered with Frost's oafish Danny Butterman, a sloppy small town cop with a taste for American police movies and a desire for big city action. As one expects, things are not as placid as they seem. The village's idyllic calm is soon spoiled by a number of gruesome "accidents", which only Angel can see for the murders they are. For the die hard fans of the trio's earlier work gathered at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse Friday for an advance screening and live q&a with the filmmakers, the movie more than lived up to three years of anticipation.
Pegg & co. are geeks. And we mean that in the best sense. Their work is stuffed full of TV, film, and general pop cultural references denser than the most frenetic imaginings of Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane. And Hot Fuzz may be the densest yet. It plays out like a massive Where's Waldo puzzle where one has to spot all the reference points, which often overlap and intertwine, improbably running a reference to The Shining right into one from Point Break. But to say that all Hot Fuzz consists of is a patchwork of recontextualized quotes grossly underestimates what Pegg and Wright have accomplished here. One questioner made the mistake of asking, bearing in mind how much of their material is pulled from other sources, how involved they were in the writing process. Wright immediately shot back, "You mean, apart from actually writing it?"
And it's in the spaces between the fanboy moments that the movie truly shines, and that sets their work apart from simple parody. Pegg and Wright notoriously avoid using the word "spoof" when talking about both Shaun and Hot Fuzz. Just because they're making a comedic film in a normally serious genre doesn't mean they're taking pot shots. The fact is, they're fans of the well-executed action film, and Fuzz never insults a genre they're enamored of, whether it's Bad Boys II or something more "high minded" like The French Connection. They recognize the inherent (but often ignored) humor in the over-the-top Michael Bay style action flick, and bring it from background to foreground. They recognize the subtle homoeroticism of the buddy cop movie and make it overt. In a scene where Butterman invites Angel into his house after a night of drinking at the pub, they gaze at each other like starry-eyed lovers on a first date. Later, the sexual tension is played up until one swears they're just going to start making out on the couch.
Intellectual discussions about British comedy and pop culture homages aside, the only yardstick that really matters is, "How funny is it?" And the answer is that I think my stomach is still sore from laughing. Wright and Pegg's script never settles for one joke a page when five will do, and they barely let you recover from one gut-busting line before they swing at you with one even funnier. Interchanges that are hilarious in the first half are repeated in a new context in the end to even funnier effect. And the moment in the climax that you probably saw coming, and were even waiting for, since halfway through the movie, is even funnier because you've been dying for them to do it. The entire cast plays it straight, playing up to genre stereotype without ever overplaying, letting the script do the comedic heavy lifting. Of particular note is Timothy Dalton, who plays the bad guy with sly and evil relish. When he meets his end you'll find yourself thrilled and disgusted before laughing hysterically when the filmmakers pull the rug out yet again.
Hot Fuzz works because Pegg and Wright set out to make a faithful genre picture just as equally as they set out to make a comedy. The film is even funnier because they never sacrifice plot or character for a laugh. Most of all, they manage the improbable feat of making an American-style action film that never undermines its inherent British-ness, proving that maybe our senses of humor aren't separated by an ocean after all.
Hot Fuzz opens in the U.S. on April 20.
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