“Reno 911” has been a staple on Comedy Central for several years now. The parody of “Cops” features several actors from the sketch comedy troupe The State and is consistently absurdly bizarre and funny. “Reno 911: Miami” relocates the crew of the Reno Sheriff’s Department to the streets of Miami, giving them some fresh perps to deal with and a brand new setting. For me, a former big fan of the show, the film really reinvigorated the set-up and made for a very funny movie.

The crew is invited to a police convention in Miami, but a clerical error knocks them off the list and when a biological weapon renders all of the area cops and attendees sick and in quarantine, our favorite crime-fighters must patrol the streets of Miami to keep the streets safe. It is a ridiculous plot, but one that keeps things hopping. They deal with alligators in people’s pools, lewd behavior on the beach, a Scarface-like drug lord, the on-going biological weapon attack all while trying to have a typical Miami beach vacation.

While fans of the television program certainly get a head start on who’s who in the deranged world of “Reno 911,” it doesn’t take long to catch on. The leader is Lt. Jim Dangle, a man with a penchant for wearing short shorts. He is assisted by deputies Kimball, Wiegel, Johnson, Garcia, Jones and Junior. Many of these characters have had flings or crushes on each other at one time or another, but all of them seem to lead sad, lonely lives (the price of wearing the badge) and this draws them closer as friends.

Perhaps the biggest difference betwen the movie and the TV show is that the movie is racier and has a bigger budget, leading to some more explicit dialogue and visuals and some big explosions and cameos. Every member of The State makes an appearance, as do actors like Danny DeVito, The Rock and Paul Rudd.

This isn’t the funniest movie ever made but when you consider that the guys who play Dangle and Junior wrote the film and also wrote less funny movies like “Taxi” and “The Pacifier,” it is easy to wish that they would make more fare like this film. There are some really good laughs in the film and a lot of the good parts will be edited out when it eventually comes to Comedy Central.

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