Hot Fuzz (2007)

Sandford’s most wanted fugitive for a good chunk of this movie is a swan, and Hot Fuzz treats the case with total seriousness. That’s the trick. Edgar Wright shoots a sleepy English village like a Michael Bay movie: whip pans for paperwork, crash zooms for a cup of tea. Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel so stiff you could iron a shirt on him, and Nick Frost’s Danny is the sweetest partner in cop movie history, a grown man whose biggest dream is firing two guns while jumping through the air. Timothy Dalton grins through every scene like he’s guilty of something and also wants to sell you a discount ham. The honest problem is the middle, which slows down to lay its clues and gets a little too pleased with itself. 121 minutes is a lot for a joke this tight. Still a 9.1 because every gag planted early pays off later, and the finale is a cartoon with real stakes. $8 says you answer your next yes or no question with yarp.

What works: Wright’s machine-gun editing, the Pegg and Frost chemistry, and a script where nearly every throwaway line comes back as a payoff.

What doesn’t: The middle drags while the mystery lays out its clues, and a few of the village jokes repeat one time too many.

Who it’s for: Action movie nerds who know every Bad Boys II shot by heart, and anyone who suspects their quiet hometown is hiding something.