Guess who's favorite movie just got Netflixed?

Mine! It was my favorite movie. I've seen it at least 14 times and I'll probably watch it 14 more times before I shake off this mortal coil. It's become a litmus test for friendships. If you like the work of Edgar Wright, we can be friends. If you think Hot Fuzz is superior to Shaun of the Dead... we can be best friends.

SOTD is a fine film, I love it. But it's a caterpillar spinning a cocoon. Hot Fuzz is the emergence of a great director. It's so far beyond it in both ambition and accomplishment there's hardly any comparison to be made. It has three dimensional characters in a heightened reality. It has a gag per minute ratio that's only been topped by Wright himself. It needs a ridiculous explanation for it's second act murder mystery to sustain it's finale... but it comes up with a brilliant logical explanation anyway.

And don't get me started on how each act echoes the same story viewed through an idyllic lens, then a murder mystery, then an action movie. Because that attention to detail is just unheard of outside of Kubrick. And Kubrick was never as comfortable being funny.

Sure never got a Dr. Strangelove 2.

It's attention to story and character is so goddamn rare in comedy I'm shocked and appalled that most people write it off as a "good" movie when it's really a masterpiece. So watch Hot Fuzz again. You'll like it more each time you see it. Edgar Wright's magic like that.