I was a casual fan of the Cops spoof, Reno 911! and enjoyed the big-screen version, Reno 911! Miami probably more than most. Amazingly, it’s been over fourteen years since their last movie, so I was hoping Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon (which went straight to Paramount+) would’ve made up for all that lost time. Unfortunately, it’s kind of a mixed bag. While it’s fun to see everybody in their roles once again, there really aren’t a whole lot of laughs to be had.
The plot probably wouldn’t have even cut it on a thirty-minute episode of the show. Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Thomas Lennon) and his cronies in the Reno Sheriff’s Department are tasked with giving a summons to the leader of QAnon. He learns the organization is about to have their annual Booze Cruise, and the police force travel incognito aboard the ship hoping to get a glimpse of the mysterious leader.
The stuff on the boat is extremely hit and miss. With a topic like crackpot conspiracy theorists, there is plenty of low hanging fruit to be squashed here. However, Lennon and company don’t exactly go swinging for the fences. In fact, with such a prime target, it’s kind of disappointing to say that the filmmakers let QAnon off pretty easily. The celebrity cameos are OK (Patton Oswalt garners a couple of chuckles in a sizable supporting role), but honestly, I was expecting more (both in the way of cameos and laughs).
It's a shame too because the opening is a lot of fun. It’s in these scenes where the Reno police force have to come to terms with the changes in policing brought about by Black Lives Matter and anti-cop sentiment in general. I think it would’ve been a lot funnier if that had been the film’s primary focus instead of the stuff with the cruise. (The scene where the cast performs an extended cover of Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen” is particularly cringe-inducing.) Despite the promising start, once the ship sets sail, the movie gets lost at sea.
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