On the heels of launching a new genre with rom zom com (i.e., romantic zombie comedy) Shaun of the Dead, the writers, director, producers and stars of that cult favorite reunite for this action-movie spoof that draws on the punchy dialogue, buddy-cop relations and choreographed gunplay of such auteurs as Richard Donner, John McTiernan and Michael Bay. Unlike the Scary, Date and Epic movies, however, these filmmakers integrate their homages organically into an original plot of their own making, here transplanting a quintessentially American genre, usually set in a major U.S. city, to the English countryside, where the bobbies don't even carry guns.

With an arrest rate 400 percent better than any of his peers, Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is promoted and transferred…to the pastoral village of Sandford, where he'll no longer be able to make the rest of the London police force look bad. Without much to do in the quiet little town, he puts his considerable skills to work rounding up minors from the local pub, investigating an escaped swan and humoring his new partner, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who dreams of emulating the movies he's memorized from his massive action movie collection. Angel soon realizes, however, that, although the tranquil Village of the Year contestant hasn't had a murder in decades, it does seem to experience more than its fair share of extremely gruesome accidents.

In director Edgar Wright and Pegg's tight script, the humor works on several levels, including the sly incorporation of the genre's conventions; fun puns (the cast of characters include a newspaperman named Tim Messenger, a store owner named George Merchant and a flower shop proprietor named Leslie Tiller); British celebrity cameos, with Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy coming in swift succession; and even clever references to the filmmakers' own oeuvre, as in a zombie-like workforce eerily similar to those found in Shaun. Best is Wright's slick style, with quick cuts that move the action along at a clip. Distributor: Rogue
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jim Broadbent
Director: Edgar Wright
Screenwriters: Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg
Producers: Nira Park, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Genre: Action comedy
Rating: R for violent content including some graphic images and language
Running time: 120 min.
Release date: April 20, 2007 ltd