ben garant's RENO 911!: MIAMI (2007)

it's always nice to see the folks from The State perpetuating their influence on the world of comedy, but there's a reason that Reno 911 has met so much more mainstream success than other post-State projects: it's comparatively safe. the show's base concept is excellent enough to allow for a healthy dose of weirdness without alienating their audience, of course, but put next to the absurdism of Stella and deep comedy of Wet Hot American Summer, it's downright pedestrian. it's never bothered me in the slightest until now, though, as i sat through the hilarious trifle that is Reno 911: Miami. overlong by half at 84 minutes, the film plays just like any given episode of the show, except unbleeped, unblurred, and with a slight pretense of plot; it's extremely funny a lot of the time, but the improv inevitably precludes competent feature pacing, so the only real thing we get from the movie that we don't get from the show is occasional boredom. what made me think about Reno 911's shortcomings as a State successor, though, is imagining the film that could have been had they opted to take some chances, like taking the same few broad plot elements and building them into a scripted cop drama, coincidentally starring the hapless Reno sheriff's department. not everyone might have gotten it, sure, and some of the show's spirit might have been sapped away by a real script. but at least it wouldn't have been such a blatant non-effort at adapting the show to the screen.