Hot Fuzz is yet another near-perfect Edgar Wright film filled with great action, smart storytelling, and of course, hilarious quotes.

It’s a common misconception that Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz is a parody of the buddy cop genre. The movie is actually more of a tribute or homage to the genre. It follows all the traditions, as a straight-laced big-city cop moves to a small town and pairs up with a buffoonish local officer to shake things up and take on the unseen criminal underworld.

It’s just that it happens to be sleepy English village and it happens to have a lot of funny lines and sight gags. Remove all of that and it’s an earnest buddy cop movie – and one of the best of all time.

Updated on November 21st, 2021 by Colin McCormick: Edgar Wright stepped away from his usual comedic movies for a more serious horror story in Last Night in Soho. While it is thrilling to see the filmmaker branch out into new genres, Hot Fuzz remains Wright's most fun and rewatchable movie. With fast-paced humor inside of the buddy cop genre, the movie is a wild and hilarious ride with endless funny moments and lines that will have audiences laughing out loud no matter how many times they have seen it.

Sandford's Love Of Guns

"Everyone And Their Moms Is Packing Round Here."

When Nicholas Angel finds himself in the rural town of Sandford, he initially takes it for a quiet place where nothing exciting happens. However, there is more mischief beneath the surface than there seems as hinted at with the abundance of firearms in the town.

When Angel expresses his concern over a local many having an arsenal of weapons, the other offices ensure him everyone "and their moms" have guns, like farmers. When Nicholas asks who else might have guns, Andy Cartwright replies, "Farmer's moms."

Angel's One-Liner

"Did You Say 'Cool Off'?"

It's quite brilliant how Nicholas spends the whole movie telling Danny who unrealistic action movies are only for the climax of Hot Fuzz to become a cliché-filled action sequence. There is a lot of fun meta-humor throughout this third act, especially as Danny has fun being in the middle of a genuine action movie.

After Nicholas knocks Michael into the icebox, Danny shares his disappointment that Nicholas missed his opportunity to deliver a classic cheesy action movie one-liner.

Danny Defends His Father

"He's Not Judge Judy And Executioner!"

Danny Butterman is a very endearing character even if he is not the brightest cop around. He is a bit like a grown child, especially in the way he is treated by his father. This causes issues as Danny is unable to accept when his father is revealed to be the murderous villain of the movie.

The argument between Nicholas and Danny is genuinely intense as Nicholas begs for Danny's help and Danny attempts to defend his father. But when Nicholas suggests Danny's father has made himself judge, jury, and executioner, Danny fires back, " He's not Judge Judy and executioner!"

Nicholas Points Out The Obvious

"You've Got A Moustache."

When Nicholas arrives in Sandford, he doesn't receive a warm welcome from everyone. Specifically, the town's two detectives, Andy Wainwright and Andy Cartwright aren't at all impressed by the big city cop.

When at the pub together, Wainwright takes a sip of beer, leaving foam all over his mustache. When Nicholas points out, "You have a mustache," Wainwright defiantly responds, "I know." It is a simple moment but it's hard not to laugh at the stupidity of it all.

A Man Of Few Words

"Yarp."

Before starring as The Hound on Game of Thrones, Rory McCann had a hilarious supporting role in Hot Fuzz as Michael, the unintelligent trolly boy at the local supermarket. Though he is an imposing figure, Michael is only able to say "Yarp" which seems to be his word for "Yes."

After Nicholas manages to subdue Michael in a fight, he attempts to impersonate him on the phone with Skinner. But when Skinner asks if Nicholas will be coming back, he takes a risk and answers "Narp?" which surprisingly works.

Nicholas Has Missed The Classics

"You Ain't Seen Bad Boys II?"

When Danny is first bombarding Nicholas with questions, he asks him about various classic action movies – Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, etc. – and he’s stunned to discover that Nicholas hasn’t seen any of them. When he says he’s never seen Bad Boys II, Danny stops in his tracks and says, “You ain’t seen Bad Boys II?”

Michael Bay is far from a masterful director, but Bad Boys II represents the height of his uniquely bombastic cinematic style. With a budget that was more than $100 million bigger than that of the original movie, Bay was able to make every set piece in Bad Boys II an explosive ordeal to remember.

Nicholas' Wine Selection

"We've Got...Red, Or...White."

From the moment Nicholas starts working for the Sandford police service, Danny is desperate to get him out for a night at the pub. Nicholas usually only orders cranberry juice, but when he relents and goes out with Danny, he contemplates drinking alcohol.

He asks for a wine list, and the bartender tells him they have “...red, or...white.” Nicholas eventually decides to follow in Danny’s footsteps and orders a pint.

The Neighborhood Watch Association

"The Greater Good!"

This line is uttered a couple of dozen times in the space of a few minutes when Angel first confronts the neighborhood watch. It’s how they justify killing people in order to maintain the rustic aesthetic of their village.

Whenever one of them uses the phrase “the greater good” in a sentence, they all repeat it in tandem: “The greater good!” Eventually, Angel is so annoyed at hearing the phrase repeated over and over again that he tells them all to shut up.

A Friendly Town

"Morning, Sergeant!"

Hot Fuzz gets a lot of comedic mileage out of Nicholas moving away from the hectic hustle and bustle of the big city to the more close-knit community of a small village. In a village, everybody knows each other.

When Nicholas goes out for his morning jog on his first day on the job, before he’s even really met anyone, everyone he passes on the street says, “Morning, Sergeant.”

Nicholas' Injury

"How's The Hand?"

At the beginning of Hot Fuzz, Nicholas Angel is introduced as the most effective, efficient, and badass cop in London. He's so good at his job that he’s making everyone else look bad, so the top brass decides to relocate him to a village in the middle of nowhere.

Angel keeps taking the decision further up the chain, determined to fight it, and every superior who greets him asks about the stab wound in his hand.

A Nice Callback

"What’s The Matter, Danny? Never Taken A Shortcut Before?"

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright’s Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy movies are connected by a recurring cast of actors, a movie-referencing comic tone, and scenes in which characters try and fail to jump over a fence. In Shaun of the Dead, the title character smugly says, "What’s the matter, David? Never taken a shortcut before?" and then hops a fence that falls over while he’s still mid-air.

In Hot Fuzz, this is called back to when Nicholas and Danny are in pursuit of a thief. Nicholas says, "What's the matter, Danny? Never taken a shortcut before?" and clears every fence before doing a somersault over the last one. Then Danny tries it and smashes through the first one.

False Alarm

"It's All Right, Andy! It's Just Bolognese!"

Every great buddy cop movie\ has the rival pair of cops who come in to make fun of the cops we’re following in the plot. They’re usually irritatingly one-note, but in more recent movies, this trope has been parodied hilariously. The roles are filled by Damon Wayans, Jr. and Rob Riggle in The Other Guys, while Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall play two mustachioed cops who give Nicholas and Danny a hard time in Hot Fuzz.

One of them is spattered with pasta sauce during the supermarket shootout, making it look like he'd been shot in the face, spurring the other to fly into a vengeful rage. But then he tells him, "It's all right, Andy! It's just bolognese!"

Doris Always Has A Sense Of Humor

"Nothin' Like A Bit Of Girl-On-Girl!"

A couple of months ago, the great Olivia Colman finally got the recognition she deserves and became an international star when she received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite. However, long before that, she was regularly giving hilarious performances in British comedies.

These included Hot Fuzz, in which she played Doris Thatcher, a female constable known for her crude double entendres. The best example of this is in the climactic action sequence, after Doris knocks out a supermarket employee with a ‘Wet Floor’ sign, when she says, "Nothin' like a bit of girl-on-girl!"

Danny's Idea Of Being A Cop

"Have You Ever Fired Your Gun Up In The Air And Gone, 'Aaargh!'?"

Nicholas Angel is a real-life version of the kind of action movie hero that Danny has idolized since his childhood. He’s been stabbed and shot at and he has an impressive arrest record and he was even referred to as "the Sheriff of London." So, when they’re partnered up, he has the chance to ask him all kinds of questions.

He starts by asking him which action movies he’s seen, but he soon realizes he can ask him if he’s actually lived through some of his favorite action movie tropes, like firing a gun up in the air and going, "Aaargh!"

Underage Drinking

"Every Year."

This is one of a few back-and-forths that Nicholas has with the underage drinkers in the pub near the beginning of the movie. The owners are furious with him, because he’s only drinking cranberry juice and he just kicked out all of their other customers, but the way Nicholas sees it, the law is very black-and-white.

Most of the kids that he asks about their age have a smart-alecky response, but the snappy nature of this exchange makes it the funniest. Edgar Wright is acutely attuned to the rhythm of comedy in film, and his quick cuts in this scene exemplify that perfectly.

Not Very Helpful

"Nobody Tells Me Nothin'!"

It was a nice touch when Bill Bailey’s character turned out to be twins. He'd just been sitting at the front desk throughout the whole movie, reading a book and repeating the line, "Nobody tells me nothin'!" and then two of him are seen in the same shot and realized it had actually been two characters the entire time.

Bailey’s collaborations with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg go back to before the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, and even before Spaced, when Wright directed Pegg and Bailey in a short-lived sketch show for BBC Two with the title Is It Bill Bailey?.

Nicholas Isn't Welcome

"You Wanna Be A Big Cop In A Small Town? F*** Off Up The Model Village!"

Edgar Wright’s movies – particularly these Three Flavors Cornetto movies – are always filled with foreshadowing. A seemingly off-key line will turn out to have hinted at a future event in the story. In an early scene in Shaun of the Dead, Ed lays out the entire plot in the form of unfounded plans for the next day. Every pub name in The World’s End hints at what happens there.

This line about the model village works both as a good joke, because “big cop in a small town” is one of the most common premises in action cinema, but it also sets up the movie’s climax, which takes place at the model village.

Telling Off The Doctor

"You're A Doctor. Deal With It."

One of Danny’s dreams throughout Hot Fuzz is to utter a cool one-liner in the style of a Chuck Norris character or an Arnold Schwarzenegger character. But it’s Nicholas, who has never had any interest in any of that stuff, who gets the coolest ones in the movie. He distracts Michael with a teddy bear, then smashes a plant pot over his head and says, "Play time’s over!"

Later, he knocks the same guy unconscious in the freezer. Danny suggests, "Cool off!" as a one-liner, but it’s too late. When they shoot the town doctor in the leg, Nicholas says, “You’re a doctor. Deal with it.” And Danny adds, "Yeah, motherf*****."

The Action Kicks Off

"This S*** Just Got Real!"

In Hot Fuzz, Danny has become a cop because he wanted to work with his dad – and because he’s a huge fan of Hollywood action movies. When Nicholas moves to town and reveals he’s never seen any of those movies, Danny shows him Point Break and Bad Boys II.

Nicholas finds the movies to be silly and unrealistic until he finds himself living one. And when he does, he repeats the line that Will Smith utters in Bad Boys II when things get kicked up to the next level and the movie heads into the explosive climax: "This s*** just got real!"

Buddy Cops

"Sergeant Butterman, The Little Hand Says It's Time To Rock And Roll."

While Hot Fuzz tells its story perfectly from start to finish and there’s no real need for a sequel, the final moments of the film leave the door open for a follow-up movie – and the promise of a sequel is very tantalizing. Nicholas and Danny have completed their journey as a duo, with Nicholas loosening up and enjoying the thrill of police work and Danny taking the proper procedures seriously.

A sequel isn’t necessary, and wouldn’t advance the characters more, but it would be endlessly fun to revisit those characters. All fans can do is keep their fingers crossed for Hot Fuzz II: Hotter, Fuzzier Fuzz.

NEXT: 5 Ways Hot Fuzz Is A Great Action Movie (& 5 It's A Great Comedy)