Last weekend, we saw Hot Fuzz, the new action film/parody by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the same team that made the zombie movie/parody Shaun of the Dead.

It's quite good. Wright and Pegg understand that in order to make an effective parody, you first have to create a good example of the original form. In both movies, they do a good job of creating compelling, sympathetic characters and interesting situations that drive the story and provide a framework to hang the jokes from.

Some reviewers have compared this movie to The Naked Gun series but I think that is a bad comparison. The Naked Gun movies provide a very bare frame for slapstick/wacky jokes that come at a breakneck pace. Hot Fuzz's jokes come at much more measured pace and are more character based rather than slapstick or pun based.