As I was about half way through "Reno 911!:Miami," I realized exactly what makes the TV series so enjoyable. It’s not just the ridicule of police officers, because that’s nothing new, but the deconstruction of the myth that all police are supermen or nobly dedicated heroes. These members of the law enforcement community are incompetent, full of false bravado, often corrupt, absurdly unprofessional, and more interested in having a good time than in protecting the citizenry. Their attention doesn’t go to drug dealers or murderers but underage drinkers, pot smokers, and prostitutes, in other words, safe and easy takedowns. Good or bad, this group of mortals is as fallible as any other. Knowing that this is an often accurate satire almost transforms it into a horror film.
It’s hard for me, a longtime fan, to separate the film from the series in this review, the film essentially being an 80 minute long episode of the show. The characters and scenarios should be largely familiar to fans of the Comedy Central hit, though it’s a testament to the durability of the material that it still draws blood after four seasons.
For those not in the know, "Reno 911!" is a largely improvised series that follows several men and women of the Reno Sheriff’s Department documentary style ala "Cops," as they respond to the sordid misdeeds of the populace, often in a manner that’s less heroic than ineffectual.
In "Reno 911:Miami," the gang takes a bus to Miami to attend a police conference, only to be stopped at the door of the convention center due to computer error. The scenes concern their attempt to enjoy the trip anyway by getting wasted and trying (and failing) to get laid are the funniest in the film, the removal of the uniform stripping even the little dignity they have away.
They awaken from their evening of debauchery to find that the police convention has been the victim of a biological attack and that the only cops not infected are themselves. A hilarious cameo by The Rock and a quick uniform change later, the hapless deputies are patrolling the sunny Florida metropolis. Here they face old challenges as well as new ones such as wannabe Cuban drug lords, angry alligators, and whale corpses washed ashore on a topless beach.
The film makes good use of its bigger budget and lack of content restraints, upping the bad language and sex jokes and throwing in a few more explosions than usual. The story unfolds in the same style as the show, with segmented incidents pasted onto the plot, where several parts could be entirely shuffled around and make little difference to the overall product. This kind of structure makes for a greater TV series than a film, even as they both have about the same number of laughs per gag, which is a lot. Even the jokes that miss, such as the response to a noise complaint at Suge Knight’s mansion, don’t completely fall apart since the players have uncannily made the characters so oddly likeable.
In fact, it’s the interaction between the deputies, punctuated with sexual rivalries and awkwardly forced partnerships, that are the highlights. This can surely be attributed to the improvised dialogue, which imbues the exchanges with flares of brilliance and surprise that scripted lines can’t replicate. Fans will find little to complain about, and newcomers might find themselves adding a few DVD’s to their Netflix queue.
3.5 out of 5
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