The Rocket

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Focus

Stupid, ignorant, oblivious, incompetent and rude are all great ways to describe the characters of Comedy Central's improv-reality "COPS" spoof, "Reno 911." But what makes the show's characters so socially inept is what makes them so much fun to watch.

Now the officers of the Reno Sheriff's Department get the silver screen treatment, complete with uncensored sexual content, nudity, crude humor, profane language and drug use in "Reno 911: Miami."

Pre-"Reno," most of the cast's movie experience included playing sidekicks, comic relief or even the Taco Bell chihuahua. A cast of such unknowns probably helped the show gain its TV fan base and reality-show feel. But "Reno" welcomes in a great batch of cameos, including Danny Devito ("Get Shorty"), The Rock ("The Rundown"), Paul Ruebens ("Pee Wee's Big Adventure") and Paul Rudd ("Anchorman").

The characters themselves might be intelligence-impaired, but the show and the movie are quite the contrary. What makes the show so funny are the unexpected moments captured via squad car and their fake reality-TV cameras. You can run all of the possible scenarios of how a scene will pan out, and still "Reno" finds ways to surprise you.

One great example finds Deputies Jones (Cedric Yarbrough) and Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui) aiding an extremely attractive and topless European woman. So far, so good, at least until Jones and Garcia find out they are responding to help remove a decaying beached whale.

"Reno" works as a film mainly because it seems well planned and executed. Intertwined in the hilarious randomness are a series of storylines that provide just enough of a plot to string it together.

Dangle (Thomas Lennon) mentions at the beginning that he wants out of Reno, Clementine (Wendi McLendon-Covey) returned from a night of heavy intoxication to find a tattoo of a mysterious man on her breast, and Wiegel (Kerri Kenney) continues her seduction of Dangle that fans will recall from the show.

Each of the subplots keeps you watching just to see how everything will pan out.

Aside from the writing, "Reno" supplies some great camera work as well.

There is one beautifully horrifying single-camera shot that follows the cast as they turn in after their first night of Miami partying. Each cast member tries to elicit some kind of sexual encounter only to end up pleasuring themselves. The shot is funny, brutal and extremely well done.

There is a lot of quality in "Reno" that sets it apart from the TV sketch comedy adaptations of the past. "Saturday Night Live" wishes its film adaptations could be as well executed as "Reno," but sadly SNL fans get stinkers like "Superstar."

However, "Reno's" TV fans will not be disappointed. The film adaptation carries all of the common devices used in the show and pumps them up to big screen proportions.

The filmmakers offer scenes and situations not available on television. A lot of that involves the uncensored nature of film, but is also because of a bigger budget. The explosions are bigger and there are some blood effects not regular to the TV show.

In TV land, the "Reno" cast often creates explosions likened to cherry bombs and pencil-thin firecrackers. On the big screen, the "Reno" cast blows up everything from a Ford Mustang to The Rock in blockbuster fashion. There is even a scene where our blundering officers get to pilot a police helicopter armed with projectile rockets.

There are pointless explosions and situations that play-out like a 90-minute sex joke, so you have probably figured that "Reno 911: Miami" isn't exactly the perfect date movie.

Still, if you want to go out with a group of friends and get some well thought out cheap laughs, then "Reno" could be the film for you.

Ivan Moore is a senior communication major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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