---
title: "Hot Fuzz"
year: 2007
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/hot-fuzz"
fi1m_id: "hot-fuzz"
imdb_id: "tt0425112"
tmdb_id: 4638
wikidata_id: "Q729788"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 76
critics_reviews: 9
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:49.759183+00:00"
region: "CL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hot Fuzz (2007)

Directed by Edgar Wright · 2h 01m · Crime, Action, Comedy

## Identity

Hot Fuzz

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/hot-fuzz
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** hot-fuzz
- **IMDb ID:** tt0425112
- **TMDB ID:** 4638
- **Wikidata ID:** Q729788
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/4638, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q729788

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 76 from 9 reviews

*In a sentence:* An action hero who would still check your age at the pub

> Edgar Wright’s village police comedy is sharp, affectionate and carried by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. We recommend it, though repeated gags and overextended action make it longer than it needs to be.

## Synopsis

Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), a high-achieving London police officer, is transferred to a sleepy English village. His new colleagues include PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) and Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), and the work includes pursuing a shoplifter and dealing with a pub’s underage customers. Angel brings his big-city approach to a place with different habits, while his partnership with Danny puts two contrasting policemen together. Timothy Dalton also appears as Simon Skinner, alongside Paddy Considine’s DS Andy Wainwright and Rafe Spall’s DC Andy Cartwright.

## Review

*Hot Fuzz* is a sharp, warmly acted police comedy that spends a little too long demonstrating how much it knows about action films. Edgar Wright directs as though a posting to an English village deserves the same attention as a metropolitan crime emergency. That is the central joke, and it has more staying power than it ought to. Simon Pegg’s Nicholas Angel takes the job seriously enough to sustain it.

Angel is a high-achieving London officer sent to a sleepy village, where Nick Frost’s Danny Butterman becomes his partner. Pegg’s straight face is essential: he gives us someone whose competence is funny without making competence itself look foolish. Frost makes Danny’s side of the partnership feel welcoming, and the affection between the actors keeps the comedy from becoming a series of demonstrations. Their contrasting temperaments also give Wright room to slow down. We want to spend time with them even when there is no elaborate joke to deliver.

We laughed at Angel noticing that the pub’s customers were too young to be there. Pegg’s refusal to soften the policeman’s seriousness makes enforcing an age restriction seem entirely appropriate material for an action hero. Wright and Pegg’s screenplay gets considerable mileage from that mismatch, allowing routine police work to carry the importance that Angel attaches to it. The shoplifter pursuit offers another chance to put Angel’s skills to work on a smaller scale.

Jess Hall’s cinematography gives the rural setting the emphatic treatment of an action thriller, which is funnier than making it look merely quaint. Marcus Rowland’s production design supplies a convincing everyday setting for those imported mannerisms. The pub scene benefits from feeling like an ordinary place being subjected to unusually thorough policing. These surroundings give Angel’s seriousness something concrete to work against.

Chris Dickens’s editing keeps that exaggeration brisk, while David Arnold’s music helps Wright sustain the action-film seriousness. Both contribute to the joke by treating the material with conviction, rather than constantly asking us to laugh at it. That matters in a genre comedy: contempt for the films being borrowed would soon become tiring. Wright wants their excitement as well as their absurdity. The friendship remains engaging even when the action-film references become busy.

The trouble is that Wright and Pegg keep returning to jokes that have already landed, and the action becomes less funny as it grows more insistent. Dickens can give an individual sequence momentum, but he cannot make every repetition necessary. At 121 minutes, the film gives us too much time to notice how carefully its comic business has been arranged. Some recurring details are flagged so heavily that we are left waiting for the script to use them again.

It helps to know the habits of American police thrillers, but Wright does not make that knowledge an entrance requirement. Angel’s approach to the pub works without a viewing list, as does the appeal of two markedly different men working together. Those who come for the action alone may find that the comedy sets a standard the spectacle cannot quite meet. Come for Pegg and Frost, and be prepared for more action than the jokes always need.

*Fi1m score 84, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to Hot Fuzz, with praise centred on the Pegg–Frost partnership and the collision between English village life and American action-film conventions. The reviews repeatedly single out Pegg’s straight-faced performance, the buddy-cop chemistry and the density of the gags. For many, the affection behind the parody matters: Wright and Pegg understand the films they borrow from, allowing the comedy to work without simply mocking its source material.

The reservations cluster around length, repeated jokes and an action-heavy finale that several critics find overextended. The spread is mostly positive, though enthusiasm varies over how well the action supports the comedy. Total Film praises the early comedy but finds that accumulating genres and endings weakens the payoff; The Hollywood Reporter takes a more firmly dissenting view, arguing that excessive affection for the action material leaves too few laughs or thrills.

## Straight answers

**Is Hot Fuzz worth watching?**

*Hot Fuzz* is worth watching for anyone who enjoys a police comedy played with a straight face, and we scored it 84. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost carry it, and Edgar Wright's joke about treating village policing as a metropolitan emergency lasts longer than it should. Repeated gags and overextended action make its 121 minutes feel longer than necessary.

**How long is Hot Fuzz, and what is it rated?**

*Hot Fuzz* runs 2h 01m. It is a crime and action film.

**Where can I watch Hot Fuzz in Chile?**

*Hot Fuzz* is not on any streaming or rental service in Chile at the moment. It is available in 31 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Hot Fuzz, and is it suitable for children?**

*Hot Fuzz* carries a UK 15 certificate, so it is not intended for children and suits teenagers of fifteen and over. It is an action comedy in the style of American police thrillers, and the certificate implies violence and adult content pitched at that level rather than at younger viewers. Our review found the action more insistent than frightening.

**How does Hot Fuzz compare to The Guard?**

*Hot Fuzz* is the warmer and more affectionate of the two, while [*The Guard*](https://film.one/film/the-guard) is ruder, harsher in its language and more abrasive in temperament. Both put a rural policeman into an unequal partnership, but Pegg and Frost's friendship is the steadier pleasure, whereas Gleeson and Cheadle's exchanges are sharper and the investigation around them slacker. Choose *Hot Fuzz* for goodwill and *The Guard* for bite.

**What should I watch after Hot Fuzz?**

After *Hot Fuzz*, try [*The Guard*](https://film.one/film/the-guard) (2011, Fi1m 78): Another rural policeman tests a partnership, with harsher language and a more abrasive temperament. Then [*Memories of Murder*](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder) (2003, Fi1m 91): Rural police incompetence turns much darker here; the laughter becomes distinctly uncomfortable; and [*The Lavender Hill Mob*](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob) (1951, Fi1m 82): Meticulous criminal planning meets British respectability, with a welcome lack of swagger.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **The AV Club**, Nathan Rabin (A-): Hot Fuzz is a loving send-up of action comedies that succeeds through profound affection for the genre rather than mockery. Pegg and Frost shine as a great duo in a film that achieves through parody what most action-comedies cannot straight. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/hot-fuzz-is-everything-an-action-comedy-should-be-1798202664)
- **Radio Times**, Jamie Russell (4/5): A gleeful pastiche of American action movies that begins as a funny British murder mystery before mutating into an ironic action spectacular. Smart, self-confident comedy proud to be British, showcasing the Pegg-Frost partnership and a wealth of gags. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-zajk7f/hot-fuzz/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (80/100, inferred): The film revels in cliché overload while lovingly parodying and paying homage to action films through contrasts between urban and rural cultures and severe violence and goofy one-liners. It thrives on geeky fanboy cine-passion despite running a bit long and not being as consistently funny as Shaun of the Dead. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/hot-fuzz/)
- **Time Out**, Ben Walters (80/100, inferred): Wright and Pegg successfully graft a Hollywood action aesthetic onto banal English village life with surprising success. Pegg’s straight-faced performance anchors the respectful attitude toward the genre amid a strong cast, though motifs are over-flagged and there are too many climaxes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hot-fuzz)
- **IndieWire**, Nick Pinkerton (70/100, inferred): The review examines the film's premise of a high-achieving London cop relocated to a sleepy village. It highlights the buddy dynamic and parody elements in a positive light overall. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-rent-a-cop-edgar-wrights-hot-fuzz-74784/)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): At its best wildly funny and inventive, subverting British cop drama conventions by blending whimsy with hellzapopping violence and drawing on an enormous frame of reference. Drawbacks include repeated jokes, an overlong runtime, and a protracted finale that risks numbing the viewer. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/hot-fuzz/4030991.article)
- **Total Film**, Total Film (60/100, inferred): The first hour offers the most fun in a cinema this year with its League of Gentlemen-style riffs and buddy-cop chemistry. The film then loses its way as it piles on too many genres and endings without a satisfying payoff. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/hot-fuzz-review/)
- **Empire**, Olly Richards: The film follows up Shaun of the Dead by transplanting a big-city cop to a sleepy village, where murders begin to occur. It is a great comedy thanks to the chemistry between Pegg and Frost and the quirky villagers, even if the action elements do not quite match the laughs. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hot-fuzz-review/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The critic finds plenty of irrepressible fun and big laughs in the Wright/Pegg/Frost team's follow-up to Shaun of the Dead. He singles out the great comedy double act of Pegg and Frost for praise while noting the film is overlong. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/feb/16/comedy.actionandadventure)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**: The film fails to deliver the comic goods or thrills the way Shaun of the Dead did. Wright and Pegg love their shoot-'em-up source material a touch too much, resulting in relentless action without enough laughs. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/hot-fuzz-158072/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane: The critic views the film as an enjoyable mashup of British rural comedy and American action excess, paying homage while satirizing modern Britain. He singles out the in-jokes, the buddy pairing, and the climactic model-village set piece for particular note. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/30/magnum-farce)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis: The critic finds the film a sharp parody of Hollywood action movies with a heavier comic touch than its predecessor. She singles out the screenplay's knowing recreation of action-film techniques and the central buddy dynamic for praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/movies/20fuzz.html)
- **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (4/5): The film transposes the buddy cop genre to an English village setting with absurd results and builds from silliness to over-the-top action. It blends Hollywood clichés with British surrealism and village murder mystery in a knowing, loving pastiche full of gags. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hot-fuzz-film-review-by-anton-bitel)
- **Paste**, Tim Basham (80/100, inferred): Hot Fuzz outdoes most average American buddy-cop comedies with its offbeat humor, though it occasionally emulates them. The script stays true to the quirky style of Shaun of the Dead, making the long action ending forgivable. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/simon-pegg/hot-fuzz)

## Details

- **Director:** Edgar Wright
- **Director:** Edgar Wright
- **Screenplay:** Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
- **Cinematography:** Jess Hall
- **Editor:** Chris Dickens
- **Music:** David Arnold
- **Production design:** Marcus Rowland
- **Costume design:** Annie Hardinge
- **Producer:** Nira Park, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan
- **Cast:** Simon Pegg as Nicholas Angel; Nick Frost as PC Danny Butterman; Jim Broadbent as Inspector Frank Butterman; Paddy Considine as DS Andy Wainwright; Rafe Spall as DC Andy Cartwright; Kevin Eldon as Sergeant Tony Fisher; Olivia Colman as PC Doris Thatcher; Bill Bailey as Sergeant Turner
- **Runtime:** 2h 01m
- **First release (the UK):** 13 February 2007
- **Genres:** Crime, Action, Comedy
- **Budget:** $12 million
- **Box office:** $81 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6PKkxn7pq0

## Where to watch in Chile

Not streaming, renting or buying in Chile at the last check.

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CO, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, ID, IE, IT, JP, KR, LT, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, SE, SG, TH, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Guard* (2011), Fi1m 78: Another rural policeman tests a partnership, with harsher language and a more abrasive temperament. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-guard.md)
- *Police Story* (1985): For physical comedy and police action that can justify sharing the same scene.
- *The 'Burbs* (1989): Suburban suspicion gets neighbours into trouble, with more unease beneath the jokes.
- *Memories of Murder* (2003), Fi1m 91: Rural police incompetence turns much darker here; the laughter becomes distinctly uncomfortable. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)
- *The Lavender Hill Mob* (1951), Fi1m 82: Meticulous criminal planning meets British respectability, with a welcome lack of swagger. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/hot-fuzz