SonOfKyuss Reviews

Reno 911!: Miami (2007)

Not As Funny as the TV Show

[4/10 · 22 February 2007]

I just went to a sneak preview of this movie, I thought I would enjoy it since I find the TV show to be funny. Although the movie kind of plays out as an hour-long episode of the show, it is not nearly as funny.

I think it's because they take the characters out of Reno, and they practically eliminate the fake-reality-show element. Rather than give us a big helping of the TV show (which would have been great) they try and make it a big-budget extravaganza and it just doesn't play out well.

Borat was hilarious because they kept it low budget and followed the format of the original show; Reno 911 on the other hand had it's funny moments, but was not properly adapted to the big screen.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Funny, packaged with hidden social commentary

[6 August 2004]

Apart from being a good, light-hearted Summer comedy flick, this movie says a lot about the way race is treated in Hollywood. In most movies, the lead, normal characters are white and often seem to run into a lot of minority stock-characters like the Middle-Eastern convenience store clerk or the black/Hispanic gang bangers.

Well, in this movie the leads are played by an Asian and an Indian guy, there are a lot of black characters to identify with, and the only white people portrayed in the movie, are ridiculous stereotypes like the extreme-dudes and the racist cops. The filmmakers have effectively pulled a 180 on the racial norms of Hollywood. The greatest part about it is that they didn't have to make a movie about race, this is a solid coming-of-age comedy.