Reno 911!: Miami

I haven't laughed this hard in a theater since I saw Something About Mary. That said, I'm a fan of the TV series, and I thought the movie lived up to its expectations. My only complaint is it could have been longer. Nevertheless, I think the writers and actors were on their game. Take in mind this is dumb slapstick humor, with flatulence and vomit jokes, but its still very clever, unique, and definitely funny! There really wasn't much of a storyline, or I should say it had very simple plot. However, that's not what makes Reno 911 funny (a complex plot might even be distracting). What makes Reno 911 funny is the string of endless "skits" and scenarios these incompetent cops put themselves in. This is a great cast of actor/comedians.

I'd only seen part of one episode of the TV show before seeing the film, so my knowledge of the characters and the premise of the show was limited. No matter: the film does an excellent job of establishing its tone and the specifics of the characters right off the bat. No roadmap required.

My biggest fear with seeing a theatrical version of a TV series is that the film tries to overinflate the stakes of the plot to justify the increased length and budget and fails. Reno 911!: Miami took that necessity to its logical next step by moving the small town incompetence to a much larger scale in Miami, but due to some clever (and minimalist) writing, the relocation works. And, since nearly all of the humor in the film is derived from the characters and their reactions to their situations -- all of which speed by at a brisk pace, so as to not overmilk a joke -- the relocation never felt forced or unwelcome.

Impressively, the film veers into cliché territory on numerous occasions but never delivers the expected punchline. The actors know their characters so well that their improvisations keep the audience and their costars on their toes at all times. Even the traditional "caper" plot, which is really just an excuse to tie all the vignettes together, is handled with more originality than I would have expected.

Perhaps I should start expecting more from this creative team, since they're capable of sustaining my interest (and my amusement) over the course of a full-length feature. In fact, perhaps I should start watching the series...

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.

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.