Edgar and Simon have both said: Spaced, Shaun, & Hot Fuzz are not meant to be "parodies".

Actually, I would say this film is an homage and a satire. All parodies are satires, but not all satires are parodies.

"We're not mocking the genre. It's slightly more from a parody angle and a spoof angle. It's something that could stand on it's own as a cop movie without the jokes. Not jokes about the genre, but the jokes come from within the movie," Pegg said.
http://www.statepress.com/issues/200...ebextra/700872

I agree with this statement. The movie could be a good movie without all of the jokes.

I think given all the extreme hype about how awesome this movie is, I had pretty high expectations. And it came nowhere close to meeting them. The first two acts were slow and unfunny. The third act started to make up for it, but too little too late.

Since Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite movies I too had unrealistic expectations for this. I agree with the above poster that the 1st two acts were waaaaaay to slow.

But then again, I didn't like Shaun until my third viewing so I'll be picking this up on DVD.

I thought it was hilarious, but not as good as Shawn of the Dead. For one thing, they telegraphed a lot of the jokes. For example, the whole Point Break thing was explained to us twice before the "payoff". Compare to the "We're coming to get you, Barbara!" line from Shawn, which was so subtle even George Romero missed it on his first viewing of the film.

I actually liked all the "slow" stuff at the front end of the movie much more than the barrage of action at the end. I loved it's pathos, and how it was dripping with irony.

While I enjoyed the last half-hour of the movie just fine, I was falling out of my seat during the first half just laughing at the dialog and the situations (along with the characters - especially Paddy Considine, who steals every scene he's in).

I love how if you enjoy a movie, you say "I loved it!" (I loved it, btw).. But if you didn't like it you say "It sucked!" instead of "I didn't like it".. Like the movie is no good instead of you just not liking it. That always bothered me.. anyway...

The Point Break homage had the audience clapping and roaring. Just awesome. The resons for the murders had me rolling... "Crusty Jugglers"!!!

Well, to be fair, I've heard/read people say "it's great" in regards to a film they liked and "I hated it" in regards to a film they didn't like. I always interpret any judgment of quality as having the qualifier "in my opinion" anyway.

BTW, this film was great!

Paddy Considine was great! It's hard to believe this serious actor can look so goofy just by having that mustache, too!

Maybe it's because I had just finished with finals a few hours earlier, but this was one of the most enjoyable times I've had at the movies in a while.

The review at the Chicago Sun-Times says the film loses its way during the last thirty minutes - something I completely disagree with. The first hour or so, while offering some very funny moments, tended to drag a little, in my opinion. The final hour - especially the last half hour, offered some of the deepest laughs and great moments I've had in a long time.

I still haven't seen "Shaun of the Dead", but if it's anywhere near this film's quality then I'll have to give it a rent as soon as possible. A thoroughly enjoyable moviegoing experience.

It doesn't touch Shaun and is about 20 minutes too long (I felt it after the first hour a bit before the shootout, lost a bit of steam after the wonderful setup and initial killings), but it was overall a blast, and the audience seemed to like it as well. I loved seeing every single sequence being shot action movie style, it came across a bit corny in parts but thats also why it worked so brilliantly, it stuck to its guns.

I think the main issue is there was minimal screen time for the secondary characters, while it is the Edgar, Simon and Nick show - and I love that - Shaun worked better because of all the outside influences from the other characters.

I can't find anything about it in the last three pages, but is this a movie with more stuff at the end of the credits? (going to see it tonight )

No. You can leave as soon as the credits start - there's nothing at the end of them.

It's still hasn't show up yet!!! And it's on nearly 1300 screens. DAMMIT!!

I don't really mind the telegraphing of the Point Break bit. Without it, a good majority of the audience wouldn't have gotten it.

I went and saw this today. Got to say I was disappointed with the first hour and a half of movie. Very slow pace and not much going on. However, the last quarter of the movie was excellent and more than made up for the rest. Overall, i'd say it was above average. Not nearly as good as Shaun of the Dead, though.

Yeah I saw this earlier this week and I thought it was good. I can't say I loved it, but I liked it and I have a feeling it will grow on me with repeat viewings the way "Shaun" did. I also think having a crowd that "gets it" helps one enjoy the film a bit more. There were some very funny lines and visual gags in this movie. One thing I found annoying was some of the music under actor's lines and too many of those fast action edits spoofing action films. A little of that goes a long way and there was more than a little bit in this movie. Some of the music under the actors also made it hard to make out what they were saying. So that plus heavy UK accents on some of the characters made the way they used the music annoying.

Finally, there wasn't nearly enough Bill Nighy for my tastes but what little there was of him was still cool. I also loved seeing Jim Broadbent and Timothy Dalton in their wacky roles.

That was my main gripe as well---I got the joke, but they went to the well too many times with that. That's really my only major complaint though---very funny lines, characterization and action. Like Spinal Tap, I'm betting that the filmmakers clearly had a real affection for the genre they were poking fun at, and as such their jokes and observations were that much sharper.

Finally saw this tonight. I absolutely loved it. I think my biggest problem with Shaun of the Dead is that it's meant to work as a zombie flick and a comedy, but I didn't think it was a very effective zombie movie and thus the humor didn't work for me, either. But Hot Fuzz was completely different. I was laughing my ass off the whole time, and I loved the action. Someone mentioned how the entire film was edited like an action sequence, and I loved that. Whenever somebody opened a door, it was quick cuts with over the top sound effects. I could watch Hot Fuzz over and over, whereas I almost couldn't finish Shaun of the Dead.

Saw it twice in the past 2 weeks. I really enjoyed it.

I also think it helped that I wasn't constantly comparing it to SOTD in my mind.

Just saw this after all the hype. I too was disappointed compared to what I was expecting. It certainly had some humor and I laughed a few times but I didn't really find anything hilarious. The finale' was an actionfest, but for the guy who was an ace marksman and an expert at hand to hand combat he got his ass kicked and missed more than he hit. I still give it a solid B- at worst a C+. It was a decent movie that I suspect will get better with multiple viewings as you catch the subtle stuff.

I just saw it and really liked it.

When Dalton's grocery owner started to talk about how he was running the local "supermarché" I just about died laughing.

But now I'm jonesing for a cornetto cone.

Finally saw this last night. The Swan is my new hero. This movie had the bonus of critical mass. By that I mean that it would hit me with 4 more jokes while I was still laughing at the first one. Critical mass baby!


Definitely a DVD purchase for me.
I didn't bust up at this one, but I thought the "refrigerator magnate" bit was pretty clever.