History Film / HotFuzz

** Lampshaded when Blower gets pulled over for speeding in, what is possibly, the shortest high speed car chase ever.

* MotiveMisidentification: Combined with EntertaininglyWrong. "You see, as much as I enjoyed your wild theories, Sergeant, the truth is far less complex." [[spoiler:This foreshadows that the NWA have really stupid and petty motives for their murder-spree when it comes to light later in the film]]

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: What tips Angel off regarding the murders--[[spoiler:the cashier says killer'''s''', when everyone believed there was only one]].

** Played straight and subverted, as Angel is remarkably good at shooting to disable. The best example would be [[spoiler:shooting the strings of a flowerpot above a woman's head with a rifle from several yards away, which neatly severs the chain without damaging the pot or the beam they're hanging on.]] Subverted when he goes diving through the air, GunsAkimbo, in classic Woo style, and hits bugger-all... [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters which is exactly what happens when you try that in real life]].

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played straight with [[spoiler:the hoodies and Aaron A. Aaronson]] in the climax, but horrifyingly averted with [[spoiler:the kids Nicholas kicked out of the pub his first night in Sandford, who turn up in the crypt]].

** Danny saves Nick by [[spoiler:knocking over the bike-riding schoolteacher with the use of a car door. Nick hands him a rifle and says, "Now that's what I'm talking about." ]]

** The stab-proof vest plays a part[[spoiler:when Nicolas is shot in the chest by the Reverend.]]

** The stab-proof vest plays a part in Danny [[spoiler:pretending to stab Angel to death when he's cornered by the NWA (as does Angel's notebook), and again when he's shot in the chest by the Reverend.]] Strangely enough, the vest seems as though it would be relevant again, but "misfires" — when [[spoiler:Skinner rushes Angel with a box-cutter at the end, you expect it to come into play, but Skinner slips on something before he can actually stab Nicholas.]]

Written by Creator/EdgarWright (who directed), starring Creator/SimonPegg (who co-wrote) and co-starring Creator/NickFrost (who plays Danny), this film is quite the {{troperiffic}} endeavor, as it spends its first two thirds debunking and poking fun at the real-life applications of common buddy cop tropes...[[DeconReconSwitch right before going]] [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools full throttle]] on them and applying every one of them to a T... while still keeping up with parodying them. It's also filled with HoYay; even its creators indulged in writing {{slashfic}} on Website/{{Twitter}}.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement:
** A real life police officer certainly can't be ''forced'' to move from one police force to another.
** They can't be forcibly promoted either; an officer has to sit exams to move up to Sergeant.

** A police officer's notebook is an official document and must be written on both sides of the page and only in black ink, not on one side only in blue ink, as Nick does. It should go without saying that comedic cartoons are definitely forbidden.

* ShownTheirWork: A lot of police officers were consulted in the making of this film. They liked the paperwork scenes. If you have the DVD, you'll find out a lot more of what Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright found out on the "Fuzz Facts" trivia track.

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: [[spoiler:Well, more like You Arrest It, You Bought It, where Sergeant Angel gets promoted to Chief of the Sanford Police Service after arresting Inspector Frank Butterman for the various crimes he committed as a member of the NWA.]]

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The movie has a fairly long runtime and a complex plot filled with lots of action and deduction, but a close inspection shows that it takes place over less than a week (minus the DistantEpilogue and some flashbacks early on). Nicholas is sent to Sandford in the opening scene and arrives there late at night. The next evening, he's invited to an NWA meeting where Joyce mentions that a local woman has given birth to twins. The night before the climactic shootout is established as being only a few days later, when Joyce mentions that same woman has named her twins and scheduled their christening.

* MotiveMisidentification: Combined with EntertaininglyWrong. "You see, as much as I enjoyed your wild theories, Sergeant, the truth is far less complex."

* AssholeVictim: Invoked, so that the movie can keep up the BlackComedy around their deaths, but also deconstructed. All the victims might've been some combination of annoying, unlikable, or stupid, but that doesn't mean any of them deserved to die, [[spoiler: especially given the [[EvilIsPetty petty]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution disproportionate]] reasons for it. Ironically, the most traditionally likable of them, Leslie Skinner, is potentially a subversion, because it's [[AmbigousSituation ambiguous]] how deeply tied to the NWA murder ring she was before trying to leave landed her in their sights.]]

--->'''Nick:''' These people died for no reason! No reason whatsoever!\\

* GutturalGrowler: Nicholas picks this up [[spoiler:in the gas station after fleeing Sandford, and continues to growl like a chain smoker through most of the final showdown]].

** Angel himself hams it up at the end with his {{Guttural Growl|er}}ing and his hardboiled attitude.

* DrowningMySorrows: After Nicholas' original accusation [[EntertaininglyWrong falls apart]], he gloomily has to concede one of the ridiculous explanations to cover up the murders (despite the fact that it took place ''right in front of him''), and takes a big gulp of the glass of wine in front of him.

** The Neighborhood Watch Alliance keeps boasting about two of their members also being actors (and better actors than Martin Blower, at that) because one of them played a dead body in a crime show that was taped nearby and another was an extra in ''Film/StrawDogs''. Not exactly master thespian material.

** Skinner mentions that "Greg over there was an extra in ''Film/StrawDogs''," and Angel drops a beartrap on someone's head as in that same movie.

* QuestionableCasting: InUniverse with the ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' production--of course, seeing as it's the 40-something director doubling as a teenaged man...

* WTHCastingAgency: InUniverse with the ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' production--of course, seeing as it's the 40-something director doubling as a teenaged man...