20th Century Fox presents Reno 911!: Miami. Written by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon & Kerri Kenney-Silver. 83 minutes. Not Rated. Originally Rated R for sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language and drug use.
Directed By:
Robert Ben Garant
Cast:
Thomas Lennon. Lieutenant Jim Dangle
Robert Ben Garant. Deputy Travis Junior
Kerri Kenney-Silver. Deputy Trudy Wiegel
Cedric Yarbrough. Deputy S. Jones
Carlos Alazraqui. Deputy James Garcia
Wendi McLendon-Covey. Deputy Clementine Johnson
Niecy Nash. Deputy Raineesha Williams
Mary Birdsong. Deputy Cherisha Kimball
Patton Oswalt. Jeff Spoder
Paul Rudd. Ethan the Druglord
David Koechner. Sheriff of Aspen
Nick Swardson. Terry
Paul Reubens. Sir Terrence
The Film:
When the Deputies of the Reno County Sheriffs Department get invited to Miami for a police conference, they get excited about the much needed vacation. Unfortunately for them – and Miami – all the police departments attending the conference have to be quarantined and it’s up to Reno’s finest to keep the streets of Miami safe in the mean time. Facing all sorts of trouble, from beached whales to shady Cuban drug dealers, the deputies prove that you can take the cop out of Reno but you can’t take Reno out of the cop.
And therein ends the semblance of plot in Reno 911!: Miami. Taking a page from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this movie is more of a sketch comedy than a film with a plot. To some this might be a turn off, but do not be dissuaded. This comedy is hilarious. However, as with pretty much every TV to movie adaptation, Reno 911!: Miami is catered more towards fans of the show than your average viewer. Nevertheless, unlike films of this ilk Reno 911! is on par with a high quality episode of the show and would be a fine introduction for anyone who’s never seen it.
The big question one might have is what does this being a film bring to the universe of these officers. On top of having a little bit more of a plot than the show, the film takes advantage of the lack of limitations of TV. The jokes are raunchier, the nudity is more abundant and violence is gorier. They also up the ante with more explosions, car crashes and an Apache helicopter. Then on top of all of this they flush it out with a cornucopia of fantastic cameos including all the regulars from the show, Danny DeVito, The Rock, and all the other members of The State.
This film works in preserving the documentary style of the show, the only time it looks like a big budget work is during the hysterical opening scene that turns out to be a dream of Deputy Junior (Garant). The film also maintains the shows ad-lib style and manages to sustain a consistent level of funny throughout. All these fine comedians are at the top of their craft and it shows. In an era of drivel being passed off as comedy like Epic Movie and Norbit, Reno 911!: Miami is a breath of fresh comedic air.
The Reno County Sheriffs Department only in their dreams.
The DVD:
The Video:
The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1. While maintaining the documentary feel of the show this film manages to look pretty good. The transfer is top-notch.
The Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound on this film is great. They do a really good job of making this film sound like a documentary. You couldn’t ask for a better sounding movie.
Extras:
DVD Intro: Dangle, Junior and Wiegel introduce the DVD on the main menu page.
Director/Writer Commentary: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver treat us to a mirthful commentary, talking about the making of the film with tons of great behind the scenes anecdotes.
Commentary with Lt. Dangle, and Deputies Junior, Wiegel and Williams: The actors do this commentary in character, as they talk about this “documentary” and what was going on while it was made. This is a pretty fun commentary in the vein of the one on This Is Spinal Tap.
Commentary with Deputies Gracia, Johnson, Jones and Kimball: The four others Deputies give their thoughts on this time in their lives. It’s funny but not as funny as the other one. Still, all in all, there are three entertaining commentaries on this disc where most films can’t even get one right.
6 Extended Scenes: These are extended scenes from the movie that while it’s easy to see why the scene were trimmed down for the film, they are still very funny and worth watching. The one featuring Patton Oswalt is frickin’ hilarious! Also, four of these scenes have director/writer commentary that just as good as the other commentaries.
Public Service Announcements: There are four of these little gems tackling the following theatrical related subjects: “Shut The Fuck Up,” Shooting In The Theater,” “Illegal Duplications,” and “Some Fun Just Can’t Be Downloaded.” All of these are laugh out loud funny.
Fox Movie Channel presents: World Premiere: This is comes off as a regular movie premiere, however like the film, everyone is in character. This is also very funny. Lt. Dangle charges that 20th Century Fox deliberately edited the film to make them all look incompetent.
Trailer
The Inside Pulse
This edition of the film is unrated but I couldn’t see any real differences between this version and the one seen theatrically. It’s still wholly inappropriate, offensive and brimming with lowbrow humor. Mix that with a great deal of amazing special features totaling over six hours and you’ve got yourself a DVD that is a must own.
