This is a guilty pleasure movie. It is part cop-buddy comedy, part British garden party murder mystery, part quirky village ensemble comedy, and – in measured doses – part Tarantinoesque goreapolooza. It is, on the whole, an exquisite send-up of all these genres.

Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) plays our hero Nicholas Angel, wunderkind of the Metropolitan Police Service. As punishment for violating the Service’s culture of mediocrity, he is promoted to Sergeant and sent to Sandford. At first glance, one is hard pressed to think of a village that is less in need of a stalwart defender of Her Majesty’s peace than is Sandford. Still, Angel approaches his duty with trademark gusto and manages to get off on the wrong foot with the local pub owner even before his first day of work and herein we find our first comedic tension. Will Angel conform to Sandford or will Sandford conform to Angel?

I shall not further spoil the plot. Suffice it to say that as Angel digs beneath Sandford’s bucolic veneer, we the viewers are treated to a delightful assortment of eccentric personalities. Nick Frost (Pegg's Shaun of the Dead collaborator) displays a knack for physical comedy as Angel’s nebbish sidekick Danny. Jim Broadbent does a good turn as the ineffectual but apparently benign Inspector. Timothy Dalton offers up a delightfully hammy performance as prime suspect in a series of suspicious events. The rest of the cast performs admirably.

The early pace of the film is relaxed and comfortable. At about mid-point, things change. One might suspect that the projectionist replaced reels one and two of “A Fish Called Wanda” with reel three of “Halloween” and reel four of “Lethal Weapon.” Against odds, these transitions work well and the film ties up its disparate themes into a very satisfying whole. Just be sure to buckle yourself in for the ride. You’ll know when.

If gore, gristle, and bits of gray matter splattered across the camera lens are not your thing, you may wish to give Hot Fuzz a pass. If, however, you can appreciate the judicious application of exagerated violence used to great comic effect, then you may find much to relish here. Ah, the reporter… the masonry… sublime.

-Greg Careaga