Reno 911!: Miami

I hear all these people saying that this flick is a disappointment. That it should have stayed on TV. They complain about the lack of plot. What this movie constitutes is basically a bunch of scenes that appear to have been mostly ad-libbed, stuck together with a very, very loose plot involving a disease which is really just an excuse for them to be where they are. I found the extreme lack of a story amusing, especially in a few scenes where its obvious how aware they all were of it, and they were able to make fun of it. The R rating allows for some great gags that wouldn't have been able to show on TV. Overall this flick isn't an amazing comedy. It isn't thought provoking or anything else to that extent. It's a bunch of good jokes strung together and pasted up on a screen. If you like the show, don't expect it to be much more then an extended episode of the show, with some more boundary pushing gags and celebrity cameos.

It's easy to tell that Reno 911: Miami is based on a TV series just by watching it. How can you tell? There's maybe 25 minutes or so of solid material, and an additional 60 worth of filler. In bringing the Comedy Central half hour "reality" cop show to the big screen, you get the sense that the filmmakers had a hard time trying to stretch the thing out. The show itself is often quite funny, and the movie works when it's remaining close in spirit to the TV series. But then they have to go and throw in a silly plot and a series of celebrity cameos that take us out of the movie.

The film takes the incompetent cops from the TV series out of Nevada and into Florida, where they have been invited to attend a police convention in Miami. (They only got invited because every police force got in.) They arrive for some fun in the sun, only to discover a bioterrorist act unfolding at the convention center itself, which has trapped every single police officer inside. Since the cops of Reno are the only available officers not inside the building when the situation kicks in, these eight dim-witted enforcers of the law must literally become the entire Miami Police Force, keeping peace in the city while trying to find out who is behind the chemical attack at the convention center. Other subplots include the Reno officers trying to deal with an evil Scarface-like drug lord (Paul Rudd) who keeps on threatening them, and discovering the truth behind a mysterious tattoo of a man's face that has appeared on the breast of one of the female officer's after a night of sex and binge drinking.

When Reno 911: Miami is following the Cops-style reality show format, the movie can be a lot of good fun. The opening scenes where the eight individual officers are introduced, and the scenes where we get to see them on the job and dealing with situations such as a chicken that got loose made me smile and laugh quite a bit. The actors are at ease during these moments, and they're obviously having a lot of fun. Then the whole plot has to kick in, and the movie just doesn't seem as much fun as it did before. Reno 911 has never exactly been about plot, it's always been a series of mostly improvised skits skewering reality cop shows. While the movie does try to hold onto this format, giving us some various misadventures around Florida that have nothing to do with the biochemical plot, they don't seem as fresh or as funny as the Reno scenes early on. A lot of this has to do with the fact that a lot of the gags are either anti-climactic or have no real pay off. That's not to say that there are not some gags that work. A scene where the cops have to remove a beached whale from a topless beach had me laughing quite a bit, and the pay off involving an explosive device is one of the few that actually lives up to its set up and earns its laugh. More often than not, we either find ourselves smiling politely at the effort the actors are making, or simply staring at the screen with casual indifference to what we are seeing.

The movie seems to suffer from an identity crisis, as it doesn't know if it wants to be a series of skits and gross out gags, or if it wants to attempt to try to tell an actual story and parody action movies. It never finds a central tone or target for satire, and seems to change its mind every five minutes. This gives the film an annoyingly disjointed tone from which it never recovers. The celebrity cameos sprinkled throughout also don't work the way that they should, as they take us out of the movie. We're no longer watching a comic "mockumentary" making fun of cop shows, but we're watching a highly paid actor taking a cut on his paycheck for the sake of getting a quick laugh from the audience. I liked the scenes where the Reno cops took center stage, and were being their usual incompetent selves the best. It's fun watching these improvisational comics (many of whom have worked together for years on other TV shows) play off of each other and just be goofy. But Reno 911 wants to keep on reminding us that we're watching a movie, and the good stuff keeps on getting drowned out by uninspired gags or unnecessary plot.

I certainly don't regret seeing Reno 911, and I think fans of the show probably won't either. However, the inconsistent tone and the uneven ratio of hit and miss gags don't leave a positive impression overall. Maybe this would have worked better as a regular half hour episode with all the filler, celebrity cameos and silly plot removed. The cast certainly seems more comfortable with a shorter amount of time to work in. That way, they don't have to compete with a bunch of stuff that shouldn't even be there in the first place.

I actually enjoy the show and was very unsure about how it could be translated into a movie, so my expectations were not terribly high initially. Then I read one of the reviews on here that said that the movie was much less funny than the show, and overall rather disappointing. After that, my expectations were even lower, so I was pretty much expecting a dud when I went in.

I see what people were saying about it being strange that they tried to shove a plot into what should essentially be series of skits, but contrary to the reviews I've read, I thought it worked just fine. If anything, the cliché terror-attack plot paired with the cliché drug-lord plot were just meant to be a throwaway satire of the kinds of awful plots some franchises have to create in order to be translated into a feature film format ("over-the-top" action "worthy" of the big screen). If anything it just provided for some completely ridiculous scenarios that this viewer found quite entertaining.

As far as the cameos, yeah, they remove you from what shred of "reality" was left in this reality TV parody, but I felt like they worked. For one thing, minus the Rock and Danny DeVito, most of the cameos were not necessarily people everyone is going to recognize. Half the theater was asking "who's that?" when members of Stella showed up, or when someone from Upright Citizen's Brigade was on the screen. But for people who've loved the work of these semi-famous comedians over the years, their presence was a bonus. Not to mention it made the film into an effort by the whole Comedy Central family, which was kind of endearing.

Anyway, going in with low expectations and trying not to take it seriously (it is a comedy, after all), you should have a good time viewing this.

Having not seen the TV series, this was my first exposure to the characters of the "Reno 911!" world. As such, the movie was really amusing to watch. There are some really funny bits (mostly coming from the dialog) along with the insane wackiness of the characters. As a first-time viewer, it was just plain fun to watch.

The movie is basically about a group of Reno police officers who travel to Miami for a police convention. When a quarantine restricts the Miami police force (and all the other officers in the city), the Reno crew must defend the city.

The dumb innocence of the characters coupled with the serious tone that goes along with being police officers is well done. Each character is also well-defined with particular quirks, hangups and issues with the other characters. As a result, the things they say are often nutty and hilarious.

If you've never seen the series, everything in the movie will be fresh and amusing. There are some good laughs here and there and the bizarre, kooky characters will keep you fascinated. For new viewers, it's worth checking out.

I know that many people are complaining about the short length of the movie, a sparse 84 min, but what's there is funny. I know that when I left the theater, my face, as well as the faces of my 9 friends who came with me were hurting from laughing so hard. If you a fan of the show, you will love the inside jokes and cameo of one of the shows most beloved characters (I won't spoil that for you, just look at the cast for yourself). There are also plenty of notable celebrity cameos such as Danny DeVito, and The Rock to name a few. I will admit that it isn't exactly up for any awards, nor will it go down in history as one of the funniest movies of history, but it has its moments. If you liked the show, you will like the movie.