RENO 911!: MIAMI

US, 2007,
Directed by Robert Ben Garant.

Well, you can hardly get more popular lowbrow than this one – although Supertroopers of some years ago was more stupid, less funny but crasser.

The Comedy Central channel in the US has promoted a lot of talent – and not. This film is based on a series Reno 911 that is going into its fifth season. It started as a parody of the realist show Cops, with cameras accompanying the cops into the worst of violent moments and privacy invasion moments. This is one thing that Reno 911 does well. It sends up the intrusive style.

In its parody of the Police Academy series, which was in its turn a parody of police thrillers, its characters are dumb and dumbest. At home in Reno, they are dimwittedly inept. On the loose in Miami (where all local convention going police are trapped by a threat of a toxic attack), they create havoc (or it follows them) wherever they go.

It is funny now and then (well, perhaps, not as often as that). A cameo from The Rock was funny but the Danny de Vito bit wasn’t. The American bishops conference review began by saying it was over-raunchy. What could that mean? Well, yes, it is, especially for a comedy aimed at a wide audience. Writers and director (who did write Night at the Museum) act in it as well and seem to be energetically sex-gag obsessed, sexual-orientation joke obsessed and stupid sex jokes obsessed.