Output Stream of Consciousness

Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/

Even if you're not a B-movie fanatic like my wife or father-in-law, if you've ever seen Shawn of the Dead, it's hard not to have a soft spot for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The duo is back again in a unique entry into the overlapping genres of mystery and comedy, and buddy cop.

Simon Pegg stars as a London policeman - no, police officer - Nicholas Angel, who excels at his job. This turns out to be a bit problematic (I won't give it away), and he ends up assigned to a post in a small town, much to his dismay. The small town seems to have what can only be generously described as a casual attitude to law enforcement, as you start realizing when you see the pub patrons.

Nick Frost is the son, Danny Butterman, of the police chief in this village, punished for his light indiscretions by having to buy everyone cake. He is a likable lug who is just basically following in his father's footsteps, and from his penchant for cop movies, wonders whether in the line of duty Angel has ever gotten to fire guns akimbo while fighting crime.

Nick Angel tries to bring a little bit of rule of law to the place while showing Danny a few of the ropes. His penchant for paperwork and processing people come in handy, but ultimately, many of his attempts are frustrated.

In this sleepy little town, though, a string of accidents start to happen...

It really is a fantastic movie; I was surprised. From the appropriately exaggerated camera techniques that move the story along to the quirky characters to the story to the inappropriately laugh-generating gore (oh, the poor journalist), it all fits rather nicely together.

If you want to see a comedy a bit higher-brow than Police Academy and a bit lighter than Snatch with some good writing, I highly recommend giving Hot Fuzz a try.