jürgen fauth’s muckworld

More amusing silliness from the guys who made Shaun of the Dead. After demolishing the zombie film, Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost are taking aim at the Jerry Bruckheimer action flick, and they’ve set it in the picture-postcard English countryside. Bobbies with firearms–what’s not to like?

Simon Pegg plays Sgt. Nicholas Angel, a London supercop who is sent off to the provinces because he’s making everybody else on his team look bad. In sleepy Sandford, the only available heroics consist of chasing underage kids out of the pub and catching runaway swans. Angel’s new partner PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) is an action-movie fanatic whose dearest wish is to fire a gun while jumping through the air in slow motion. But ah, evil lurks in Sandford, and Danny might get his wish after all….

It takes a while for Hot Fuzz to ramp up the action, but in the meantime, the spectacular supporting cast keeps things very entertaining: Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy, and a slew of other familiar faces populate the town with characters that range from oddly endearing to cheerfully creepy. My patented scientific method for objectively judging comedy reveals a favorable chuckle-to-groan ratio, one dozen solid out-and-out laughs, four roll-out-of-your-seat moments of uncontrollable hilarity, and a steady state of hearty bemusement. For a 120 minute film, that’s not bad at all. Hot Fuzz opens on April 20th.

Hot Fuzz. Edgar Wright, 2007. ***

• The trailer

Woody Allen’s nostalgic ode to the early forties has some funny moments, and it’s good to see him crack actual jokes again. (Marcy tells me Scoop isn’t bad, but I’n sitting that one out.) Radio Days suffers from the episodic structure; it’s hard to stay interested for 90 mins–but some of the vignettes here are rather charming.

Crude, lewd, and pretty freakin’ funny: Todd Stephens’ unrated and unrelentingly queer take on every teenage sex comedy ever made is a spoof that nobody could ever call “not gay enough.” Another Gay Movie opens today. Read Jurgen’s review.

A thoroughly satisfying screwball comedy from Spain about a young woman who brings her Palestinian boyfriend home to her Jewish family. The overbearing mother tells her right away that it will never work, the zealous brother suspects terrorism, the absent father might be dead or cheating, a bellydancing sister threatens to steal the increasingly disoriented fiancé, and her little daughter pops up in all the wrong places at the wrong time–say, the business end of her blind grandfather’s rifle. Frozen soup turns into a deadly projectile, wounded ducks run wild, and of course, dinner is ruined.

Unlike the recent German farce Go for Zucker!, Only Human never gets bogged down under the weight of its issues but manages to tackle its serious moments deftly and without losing momentum. If only the real conflict could be solved with a hearty shouting match and a make-up kiss. Directed by Dominic Harari and Teresa de Pelegri, with Norma Aleandro, Guillermo Toledo, and Marián Aguilera. Only Human is now playing in theaters. 4 out of 5 stars. [Posted by Jürgen.]

More movies about the Middle East conflict: Paradise Now, Rana’s Wedding, Divine Intervention