Reno 911!: Miami
Comedy Central finally brought its hit show Reno 911! to the big screen. I guess the four year wait for the movie was worth it because the movie is unbelievably hysterical and never allows the laughs to stop. That is why Reno 911! worked so well as a television show: it was consistently funny.
Reno 911!: Miami is one of those rare movies that is so stupid it is actually smart. I know that sounds extremely contradictory, but the movie puts its officers in such random and stupid situations that you have no choice but to laugh out loud.
The movie opens up with a terrorist bomb threat in Reno and the best are sent in to take care of it. Unfortunately, for the citizens of Reno, the team consists of Deputy Travis Junior, Deputy Trudy Weigel, Lieutenant James Ron Dangle and his tight daisy dukes, Deputy Clementine Johnson, Deputy Raineesha Williams, Deputy Cheresa Kimball, Deputy S. Jones, and Deputy James Oswaldo Garcia. Anyone who watches the show religiously knows how each one of the officers is completely incompetent and some, mainly Deputy Weigel, are just completely mentally retarded.
This opening scene in Reno starts the movie off with a bang because you feel as if you are watching an action packed film, like Die Hard. Then you see the officers jump out of the helicopters and the only thing I can remember, due to my uncontrollable laughing, was Deputy Clementine wearing a very sexy black spandex outfit, that resembled a one-piece bathing suit, and let more of her breasts fall out than Jenna James does in one of her movies. To further make her outfit look more outrageous, she is wearing fishnets with it. Classy, Miss Clementine!
The basic plot of the movie involves the officers of Reno being invited to a convention of the nation’s best. The only reason they are invited, as Lieutenant Dangle so eloquently puts it, “They invited everyone.” They don’t let this get them down and head to Miami to attend the convention. When they arrive, they are denied entry, mainly because of the ridiculous way they all look in their “civilian clothes” and are left to make the best of a bad situation and stay at the dirty and dangerous International Inn.
As they arrive at the convention the next day they are shocked to find out that there was a terrorist attack on the convention and all attending officers were affected with a deadly virus. Who will guard Miami in this troubling time? That is where Reno’s finest come in.
Reno 911!: Miami is such a great movie because, unlike some television-to-movie films, it does not abandoned its roots. Miami keeps with the television’s theme as a voyeuristic reality cop show. The camera crew is still there filming all of the officers’ every move and it wouldn’t be Reno 911! without some domestic disturbances (one including an alligator in a pool) and Terry Bernadino, the gay prostitute who glides around Reno in his roller skates.
He makes it all the way to Miami because he is recording an album. Terry is a fan favorite on the show for his ludicrous sexual behavior and his absurd tube tops and daisy dukes. Terry actually speaks the best line in the entire movie mainly because it contains the work ukulele. If anybody can use that word effectively in a sentence should get an award.
Many of the scenes play off the interaction between the officers and their personal lives. For instance, the new deputy on the block (added in season three), Deputy Cheresa Kimball, is often referred to as a lesbian by the others and mainly by Deptuy Williams. She consistently accuses Kimball of being a lesbian, while Kimball swears against it while simultaneously being grabbed by tall black women. “We’re gonna go play some ball,” Deputy Kimball tells Deputy Williams. She is definitely not a lesbian…at all.
One of the best scenes involves Deputy Weigel and Deputy Williams on beach patrol. Williams is trying to teach Weigel how to act ghetto when people try to give them trouble. For example, Williams tells Weigel that if someone comes up to them, she should say, “What up, yo?” Weigel, being the dimwit that she is, decides to improvise against Williams wishes not to and ends up saying, “What up, my nig**s?” Deputy Williams’ response to this is priceless.
Reno 911!: Miami is a fantastic television adaptation for the big screen and really feels like an unrated episode of Reno 911! which is exactly what works so well for the film. Comedy Central has scored with this film and has created one of the few great television-to-film adaptations.
Final Grade: A
The Number 23
Jim Carrey is not my favorite actor for serious roles. He bombed in The Majestic and was alright in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So, his serious role resume does not have a very sound foundation. That is the only thing that plagues The Number 23. The movie itself is an amazing psychological thriller that effectively creeps you out with every turn and discovery of a new relevance of the number 23.
Carrey’s character, Walter Sparrow (W is the 23rd letter in the alphabet), is a worker for the Animal Control Department (23 letters) and is late one night to pick up his wife from her job at her bakery. She stumbles into a bookstore and is oddly entranced by a book with a blood red cover. Walter is running a little late due to a stray dog named Ned (N is the 14th letter in the alphabet, E is the 4th letter, D is the 5th; 14 + 4 + 5 = 23) that has a bad attitude and has headed to a tombstone with the name Laura Tollins. The dog apparently belongs to the gardener and is left alone.
As Walter meets his wife, Robin, and she tells him about the book, aptly named “The Number 23.” She decides to buy it for him since it is his birthday. By the way, the date is February 3 (that would be 2-3). You obviously get the idea how the number is significant in almost every minute and trivial way.
As Walter reads the book more and more he realizes how it is almost as if someone knows him and has written the book specifically for him. Walter, convinced the author, Topsy Kretts, knew him and that the character, Fingerling, and the book both have a real significance to him. Robin thinks that Walter is reading too far into the book and is just becoming paranoid. But, now Walter’s life has been consumed with the number 23 itself (his social security number adds up to 23, his birthday is on February 3, he married his wife on October 13 [10 + 13 = 23], etc.). Now, Walter must solve the mystery hidden within “The Number 23” if he wishes to get his life back to normal and figure out what the number really means.
The film should be noted for its innovative opening credits that contain nods to ominous evens in history that contain the number 23. For instance, the ones that stood out the most were the events of 9/11/2001 (9 + 11 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 23), Kurt Cobain was killed in 1994 (1 + 9 + 9 + 4 = 23), Caeser was stabbed 23 times, and the Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15 (8 + 15 = 23). This was really cool because it already pulls you into the mythology of the number 23 and lets you know that Jim Carrey’s character is in for a world of chaos and death.
The Number 23 is a dark and sometimes clumsy movie, but overall it creates the atmosphere it promises and has a great surprise ending that even the best detective could have never figured out. Although the film drags in some parts, its parallels between Fingerling and Walter Sparrow work effectively and really make the characters seem like a dual personality.
Joel Shumacher, who directed the film, is known for making some pieces of garbage (Batman and Robin, to name his worst), but has struck gold with The Number 23. The weird thing is that my birthday is on 1/7/87, which adds up to 23 and I just finished writing this at 2:30 exactly. Shit!
Final Grade: A-