FILM REVIEW

Running Time: 120 minutes MPAA rating: R

King Features Danny Butterman and Simon Pegg in "Hot Fuzz". GRADE: B+

Here's the short version: If you liked "Shaun of the Dead," you'll like "Hot Fuzz."

Long version: The same guys, Edgar Wright (writer/director) and Simon Pegg (writer/star), who gave us the best zombie movie spoof ever, have turned their sights onto the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer "supercop" genre -- with equally hilarious results.

Unlike American-style spoofs like "Scary Movie" that try to re-create specific scenes and shots from popular films, "Hot Fuzz" takes a different approach by using black humor and wit while capturing the look and feel of the genre. This doesn't mean that Pegg & Co. are above a cheap laugh (they aren't), but they don't rely on it.

The film stars Pegg as Nick Angel, a London supercop whose arrest rate is 400 percent higher than any other cop on the force. Because he's making the rest of the department look incompetent, he's transferred to a sleepy, picturesque country hamlet called Sandford, which hasn't had a suspicious death in 20 years, a crime rate that's virtually nil, but an accident rate that is disturbingly high -- a fact that leads Angel into a web of conspiracy and intrigue ... and murders most foul.

His partner, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) dreams of being a supercop like the ones in his massive DVD collection, which is packed with titles like "Bad Boys II" and "Point Break." Together, the pair investigate a series of "accidental" deaths preceding the annual Best Village Award judging.

Fans of British TV and films will also get a treat by the number of stellar cameos in the film. Steve Coogan, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman and others make appearances and thoroughly chew up the scenery.

"Hot Fuzz" is definitely worth a look.

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.