NEW Reno 911-miami (DVD)

Familiar with the sheriff's department in Reno, Nevada? They are a fine group of individuals: well-seasoned, well-meaninged, hard working folks that protect the nighttime streets in the Biggest Little City in the country. And then the day crew shows up, Dangle and the rest, and all heck breaks loose in the town. Well, the crew has been transplanted to Miami in their newest and first feature film: Reno 911: Miami, and I'm happy to report it doesn't let us down.

Dangle and his crew have been invited to a law enforcement convention in the great city of Miami, and being the schumks they are, they board their bus and travel to it. However, due to a computer mixup, they arrive at the convention and are not registered, so they are forced to stay at a seedy motel. This sets up the scenario of the movie perfectly, as a plague sweeps through the convention and it's up to our lowly team to protect the streets of Miami.

Those of you who have seen Reno 911! before are very aware of the bawdy, slapstick brand of humor often prsented on the show. The movie banks on that type of humor and does it very effectively. On several occasions, I found myself laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. The theater that I saw this movie in was crowded, and clearly the crowd enjoyed it just as much as I. Those people who haven't seen it might be put off a bit by the humor at first (I mean, can anyone possible explain Trudy to anyone?).

Kudos to everyone that works so hard on Reno 911 to give us weekly laughs, and for creating an equally wonderful movie experience!

There is more to this DVD than first meets the eye. Not only to you get the Digital DVD to download the movies on the DVD into your IPOD, but you also really do get a "LOST VERSION" of the movie! Since all the other reviewers have chosen to review the original movie which is also on this DVD, I thought I'd give you a run down of the "Lost Version." In the "Lost Version" there is a huge extended trip across country, where you watch the Reno Sheriff's Department stopping at a scad of different road-side attractions. There are more scenes of everybody partying in Miami. There is even a quasi-Lesbian scene with Wendy Covey and Mary Birdsong...but you don't see any skin and Wendy Covey leaves before anything happens. You also see more of the "love scene" between Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenny-Silver. Junior's adventures with the underage Asian girl and also covered in more depth. I could go on and on, but to sum it up, the "Lost Version" is COMPLETELY different from the movie shown in the theaters or the Unrated Version (which is also on this disc.) It really is NUTTIER and NAUGHTIER than the movie theater version (just as the DVD cover proclaims.) It's a completely different movie! Now here's the catch. If you don't watch the movie in the proper sequence you will keep watching the Unrated Version, which is also on this DVD! I'm not sure if Thomas Lennon and company deliberately did this, BUT the "Lost Version" is HIDDEN (more or less) on the DVD. The trick is that you go to the "Intro to the Lost Movie" section on the DVD Menu and click there. Then WATCH the Intro! Do not fast forward through it. Watch the entire Intro and when it is done click on the "Lost Version" movie BENEATH the Intro. Be warned, if you simply opt to click on the "Watch Movie" option, you will continue to get the original hilarious movie released in theaters and then later re-released in unedited form on the Unrated Version of the film. So if you already have this "Lost Version" DVD and think you've been "ripped off" because the movie is the same...well...that's the orginal version on the DVD. Remember there is a "Watch Movie" function which will keep on giving you the Original Version and NOT the "Lost Version." Once again, in order to watch the "Lost Version," you must go to the "Intro to the Lost Version" and then watch it, then click on the "Lost Version" movie to get it. If you chose to click on the "watch movie" option, all you will get is the original movie. You can tell you've got the "Lost Version" because it doesn't have virtually any "Hollywood" style music or staging. It looks like a much longer "Reno 911" episode with the television-style music. The "Lost Version" is actually better (at least I think so) than the original version. According to Lennon's introduction, they really did loose this film and were forced to release the other version. I'm not sure if this is true, but it is completely different and way more risque. I'm probably not the only person who discovered this really cool feature which explains why this DVD is sold out almost everyplace. Fortunately you can still get it from Amazon.com...but they are going fast here as well. A final clue as to what the Lost Movie is like...if you watch the original movie and see all the strange outtakes at the end of the movie, like the "Go back to Cuba" scene...those are all originial scenes in the "Lost Version." In otherwords, they really did make TWO different versions of this movie. Whether it was by accident, (according to Lennon, they LOST the first version in the editing room) or by design, the "Lost Version" is definitely worth having. You see way more of the Sheriff's patrolling Miami, and way less of the "Drug Lord" story highlighted in the Theater/Unrated Version. Get the "Lost Version" before it disappears. (No pun intended.) Oh yeah...you also get to see more of Jones and Garcia in this version. They are two of my favorite characters. To sum it all up, the "Lost Version" is completely different from the Unrated Version, but it's also sort-of-hidden on the Disc. But thanks to your's truly you now know the code to see the new one. Remember, in order to see the "Lost Version" of this movie you must have the correct "Lost Version" DVD, which is the one advertised right here and then click on the "Intro to Lost Version" prompt and watch the Intro, then click on the "Lost Version" movie. Then sit back and enjoy a completely different, completely hilarious different version of "Reno 911 Miami."

Never having seen "Reno 911" on TV, I really had no idea what to expect from "Reno 911!: Miami," the full-length theatrical version of the Comedy Channel cult favorite. I figured that the movie would be silly and childish to be sure - and I was certainly not disappointed in that regard - but I was definitely not prepared for just how terribly funny and utterly endearing it turned out to be. All you overpaid writers of "Wild Hogs," "Evan Almighty," "License to Wed," "Norbit," etc, please take note: THIS is how to make a screwball comedy.

A playful take-off on the you-are-there reality TV show "Cops," "Reno 911" features the crazy, slapstick-ridden antics of the most inept law enforcement agency this side of the Keystone Kops. For their big-screen debut, these fun-loving goofballs leave their home-base in Nevada and head off to Miami for a national sheriff's convention, giving them a chance to wreak their own unique brand of havoc on the unsuspecting citizens of South Florida.

The movie is really nothing more than a series of loosely constructed comedy sketches held together by the barest outline of a story (all the cops at the convention are quarantined except for our intrepid band from Reno, putting them in default charge of all law enforcement in the greater Miami area). But you don't really need or want much more than a barebones plot when the material is as clever, ribald and inspired as it is here. Indeed, there's an almost Marx Brothers-like, burlesque freeform quality to the movie, enhanced by the good-natured, anything-goes fearlessness of the performers, who never balk at what they are called upon to do, no matter how undignified, humiliating or degrading it might be. In fact, it's that high-spirited infectiousness that comes wafting off the screen and envelopes the audience in laughter.

Credit for the film's success goes to writers Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney, co-writer/director Ben Garant, and their fellow actors, Carlos Alazraqui, Mary Birdsong, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash and Cedric Yarbrough, lovable bunglers all who know that true comedy works only when the performers approach the material with the utmost straight-faced earnestness. There are also clever cameo appearances by Danny DeVito, The Rock, Paul Rudd and Paul Rubens to ramp up the hilarity.

In a film year woefully bereft of humor and laughs, "Reno 911!: Miami" is like a life-saving oasis in a movie comedy desert.

Marvelous fun.