Full Review

Bumbling cops are a mainstay of comedy, but the eight law-enforcement pretenders from the Comedy Central cable series "Reno 911!" are arguably the most incompetent -- not to mention perverse -- of all time. Their ultraraunchy big-screen debut, "Reno 911!: Miami" (Fox/Paramount) is not terribly funny either. The humor derives from mocking very peculiar foibles and tendencies, with most of the sophomoric laughs of the nervous-laugh-inducing variety.

Like the TV series, a parody of the Fox reality show "Cops," the movie was co-written by three former college friends, Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver. They also star (with Garant directing) and every gag they've conceived involves the characters' sheer stupidity and/or sexual proclivities.

The film, really an elongated TV skit, has Lt. Dangle (Lennon) leading his fellow deputy sheriffs to Miami for the American Police Convention. Denied lodging and entrance to the proceedings, they retreat to a seedy motel. When the conventioneers are quarantined after a bioterrorism attack, it's up to Reno's finest to patrol the streets, where they encounter an alligator, a beached whale and a whacked-out loiterer from back home. A pair of deputies is twice kidnapped by a drug kingpin (Paul Rudd).

One might wonder whether the movie is groping for some deeper level of meaning a la "Borat" but, alas, there's no sane way to justify the warped crudity on display here.

The film contains pervasive vulgar language, nudity, sex acts, masturbation, scatological humor, episodes of cartoonish violence and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.