Reno 911: Miami
With “Reno 911: Miami,” those wacky deputies of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department don’t quite squander the goodwill they’ve accumulated from their stealthily funny Comedy Central series. But they come close. It’s a case of good material, bad medium: They can’t figure out how to modify their hijinks for the big screen. Their usual blend of improvisational humor and the everyday absurdities of life in law enforcement — “Cops” meets “Second City” — works fine. But the high-concept set pieces, the ones meant to justify the transition to movies, rarely take shape. Only in a long, unbroken take that follows Deputy Jones as he walks past the motel rooms of his fellow deputies, increasingly appalled at what they’re doing inside, do the filmmakers find a balance between hypercontrived movie comedy and the ragged territory where the “Reno 911″ gang is more comfortable. Substituting palm trees for cacti, “Reno 911: Miami” follows the deputies east for a convention, where a bioterror attack leaves them as the city’s only police force. As on the TV series, the best moments are rooted in character, not plot. The creators of “Reno 911” are alumni of the State, an absurdist comedy troupe whose sketch show had a brief and brilliant run on MTV in the mid-90s. They and their co-stars are skilled ad-libbers with a precise understanding of the pathetic, delusional small-time cops they’re playing. But as moviemakers, they’re uninspired. If you want to see a well-made, smart-dumb law enforcement comedy, rent “Super Troopers.”
LISTEN: Reno 911: Miami