Merrick wonders who would win in a fight: the Reno guys, or Elvis the Alligator…
When I first heard about RENO 911, I…doubted. I find many mockumentaries to be awkward, broad, and far too self-aware . They often seem too forced and unnatural for my tastes.
RENO 911 doesn’t exactly knock “naturalistic comedy” out of the park, but I thought it worked surprisingly well on TV. But, can it survive a port to the big screen?
While hopped up on catnip and hissy as hell, X-Ray Cat stalked into a recent screening of RENO 911!: MIAMI - the Reno cops' first big screen adventure (why am I smelling CROCODILE HUNTER: COLLISION COURSE?)
X-Ray Cat saw a work print of the movie, and sent back this report.
Here’s X-Ray Cat…
Two days ago I unleashed my juices all over BORAT and here I am reviewing another mockumentary based on a TV show, RENO 911!: MIAMI.
I'm a huge, huge fan of the show, but I was shocked to be invited to this work print because the film was just announced a couple months ago as I remember. It wasn't even on my radar yet. Unfortunately, the fast shooting time shows in the final product. Although the movie starts off with a hilarious action cop sequence in the vein of S.W.A.T., it quickly falls back into the same format as the TV show, which would be fine if it could keep up the same joke-per-minute ratio as the show, but it doesn't even come close.
The story follows the Reno team to a police convention in Miami, where they're promptly tossed out after no one can find their reservation. The next day, a bioterrorist attack quarantines all the cops in Miami inside the convention and Dangle's crew has to take over as the only police in the city. The plot is funny enough and allows ample screen time for the hilarious trio of Paul Rudd as a confused Cuban mobster, Patton Oswalt as a flustered mayor's assistant, and Ian Roberts (Upright Citizens Brigade) as an uptight agent.
The only problem is that taking the cops away from Reno loses one of the show's most valuable assets, which is the comic balance between the main characters and the twisted fucks that live in their city. The only supporting character from the show that turns up is Terry, who runs away with his scenes as usual. Without the usual suspects, the patrol scenes are never more than mildly amusing, and the overall effect of the movie is a little meh. The good news is that since most of the movie was probably improvised, the editor probably has a lot of different options to try, and the low-budget quality of shooting would allow them to go out and add some more scenes.
The cut we saw was definitely a hard R, but I suspect it will be cut down to a PG-13 because it would only take a few small edits, including a hardcore sex scene.
If it sounds like I hated this movie, then I'm writing too harshly. It's great to see these characters on the big screen, and it will be a good introduction for people unfamiliar with the show. There's a solid amount of laugh-out-loud moments, and you get cameos from the likes of the Rock and the return of Paul Reubens. The only disappointment I have is that you would expect an adaptation like this to be twice as funny as the show that birthed it, but this one is a small step backward instead.
