REEL CRITIC:British spoof is hot but fizzles in spots

“Hot Fuzz” is an amusing and sometimes scathing satire of American police action-comedy films. English director Edgar Wright co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Pegg, the movie’s star who plays the central tough-guy cop. Together, they bring a very British sense of humor to the whole sarcastic enterprise.

They manage to successfully skewer the loud, obnoxious and predictable plot elements of all the major Hollywood efforts in this genre. In this film, the “Bad Boys” grab a “Lethal Weapon” with a “Die Hard” vengeance while chasing down corrupt cops who think they are “Goodfellas.” Yet there is a quaint attitude in many of the characters that is right out of Agatha Christie’s stories.

“Hot Fuzz” mimics some of the best wit found in the “Naked Gun” series, but with a definite R-rated edge to the silliness in the spoof. The drawn-out gun battle at the end is funny but so long it starts to become a parody of itself. Overall, it’s uneven but has its moments and remains a cut above American attempts at the same kind of humor.