One typically doesn’t expect to find a gem in the dog days of summer. Hollywood has traditionally used the final two weekends of August to dump all the movies they think might be successful in summer but aren’t confident enough to release earlier.

Hollywood is doing a bang-up job fixing that notion this year. Last week “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” kicked off Oscar season in high style, and this week audiences finally get the comedy they’ve been waiting for all summer.

Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End” finishes off his Cornetto trilogy, which started in 2004 with “Shaun of the Dead,” a sly parody of the horror genre. He followed it up with 2007’s “Hot Fuzz,” a send-up of buddy action films. And now “End” takes aim at the science fiction genre.

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“End” follows a group of five friends led by Gary (Simon Pegg) who meet up in their hometown to complete a legendary pub-crawl they failed to conquer during high school. However, Gary did absolutely nothing with his life, and bad blood has set in between him and his friends. As the group moves through the night facing the bars they used to frequent and are forced to deal with unresolved issues, they uncover a sinister plot to not only take over their town, but the world.

If that last sentence seemed abrupt, that’s because it is. “The World’s End” is hysterical, but the balance between nostalgia comedy and science fiction doesn’t blend well during the first half of the movie. Wright veers from simple comedy to over-the-top science fiction rather quickly. As the movie progresses, Wright finds his footing and blends the two well.

The comedy is right on target here, thanks to great performances from Pegg as well as Nick Frost, who plays Gary’s old friend Andy. The two play off each well. Supporting performances from Eddie Marsan and Pierce Brosnan help bolster the film, even as it descends into chaos during its final 20 minutes.

The reunion/reminiscing portion of the film is written well. One scene featuring Pegg and Frost toward the end of the movie as they finally come to blows with each other lets the two actors show their serious sides in a movie that otherwise balks at the word serious.

The science-fiction portion of the film isn’t the most original; in fact, it’s slightly reminiscent of “Hot Fuzz.” However, Gary and Andy spend much of the film drunk, putting a new spin on the material. It all sounds like adolescent humor, and it is. But Pegg and Frost play the material so well that even the lowest jokes seem fresh.