Several months later, having all but forgotten about the movie, I received a copy of the DVD from my editor. My excitement renewed, I went straight home, popped the disc into my computer and prepared to be kept in stitches.
The Movie
Reno 911!: Miami finds the flamboyant Lt. Dangle and the rest of the Reno Sheriff’s Dept. being their normal, incompetent selves (in one of the opening segments, all the officers show up to corral a wild chicken, but none of them know what to do; hilarity ensues).
When the officers learn that they have been invited to a national law enforcement convention in Miami, they are overjoyed. Upon arriving, however, they discover that they registered improperly and that they won’t be allowed to attend the convention. Instead of going back home right away, the crew decides to stay in Miami and use the time as a sort of vacation.
The next day the crew returns to the convention center and finds that there has been a biochemical attack, and that all the other police officers are being quarantined; this effectively makes Dangle’s crew the only law enforcement in the city of Miami. As such, they are asked to patrol the streets and keep everything under control until the quarantine is lifted. What ensues can only be described as classic Reno 911! outrageousness.
I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot, but suffice it to say that the officers find themselves in numerous hilarious situations, including the discovery of a giant dead sperm whale on the beach, which they must dispose of.
There are a number of cameo appearances in this movie, including Paul Rudd as a Scarface-type mobster and Nick Swardson as Terry, everyone’s favorite roller-skating male prostitute. Smaller appearances are made by Danny DeVito and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, among others.
The “unrated” classification of this movie, so far as I can tell, doesn’t really mean anything. There really isn’t all that much nudity in the movie, so my guess is that the lack of a rating is just used to attract more attention.
The DVD
This movie comes as a single DVD in a standard case, with a cardboard slipcover. It isn’t fancy (there is no embossing), but the cover art is entertaining so the lack of snazzy packaging elements isn’t detrimental to the visual appeal.
The main menu screen contains a hilarious video segment featuring officers Dangle, Jones and Weigel, as well as some clips from the film. The menu options, which contain the “start patrolling (aka ‘play movie’)” and “special features” options, among others, appear on yellow crime scene tape, which crisscrosses the screen. As with the packaging, it isn’t much, but the presentation is such that it doesn’t need fancy animations to be appealing.
Video is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen format. The quality of the picture is great; the images are crisp and the color is accurate. It looks better than the TV series but it is still filmed in documentary style, so the focus isn’t on beautiful cinematography.
Audio is Dolby 5.1 surround, which sounds great but may be overkill for this particular movie. I say this because most of the audio is dialogue, which comes from primarily the center speaker.
Special Features
The special features on this DVD should satisfy even the most rabid fan of the series. There are three audio commentaries: one with the director & writers, and two others featuring the characters from the movie. All three are very funny, and they definitely provide incentive to watch the movie multiple times.
This DVD also contains six extended scenes, which total over an hour of extra footage. These scenes mostly feature the cast improvising, which they do very well. I laughed especially hard at a scene in which Nick Swardson and other cast members are left to improvise audio; they are all off-camera during the majority of the scene and they come up with some thoroughly amusing material.
Other special features include some hysterical “public service announcements,” a five-minute “world premiere” video, and some trailers.
Overall
Many TV shows-turned-movies tend to abandon the elements that made the show popular in the first place by opting to veer off in some unknown direction or by attempting to create an “episode” that lasts 90 minutes, which often results in lengthy segments that don’t do much to move the story along. Thankfully, Reno 911!: Miami manages to keep the elements of the show intact and adapt a story that lasts 83 minutes without ever feeling like it is being stretched to accommodate feature-length running times. I’m impressed.
Overall: 6.5