Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Reno 911! movie ‘a horrible lie’

By on February 27, 2007

Editor’s note: Actress Wendi McLendon-Covey stayed in character as Deputy Clementine Johnson during this interview.

The eight brave men and women of Comedy Central’s “Reno 911″ have been followed by viewers nationwide for four side-splitting seasons.

Audiences have grown to love these fabulous cops. From their amusing DUI arrests to their daily conference room antics, the officers successfully have shown America what it takes to be a true law enforcer.

The series’ first movie, “Reno 911!: Miami,” released Friday, is a crime-fighting adventure in which the honorable deputies of Reno, Nev., go to save the day after a terrorist attack interrupts a national police convention in Miami during Spring Break.

As hilarious as this sounds, however, the movie is described by Deputy Clementine Johnson as “a horrible lie.”

“This movie is full of a lot of the same crap as in that damn series. It’s just us looking like a bunch of idiots,” Johnson said in a conference call.

The movie was a touchy subject for Johnson, but she talked about her relationships with the other officers.

“We all get into arguments, and we don’t really like each other,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of like when you don’t get to pick your family members; you don’t get to pick the people you work with either. We’re just one big dysfunctional family.”

Johnson said all the deputies agree to disagree with the movie because it’s so full of lies.

“How would you feel if you had a film crew following your every move?” Johnson said. “I mean you wake up, scratch your butt a little, take a nap or two, accomplish some things, you might crash a car once, and by the end of the day, you get drunk and pass out.

“All this movie shows is us being butt-scratching, alcoholic losers. That’s because they took all of the hard work we did in between the butt scratching out. I want it to be known that I work hard. This movie fails to show the stern warnings I gave to people.”

Johnson described the police life as very unpredictable. For example, “One minute you’re saving a kitty from a tree, and the next you’re running around in flames on the freeway,” she said.

Despite the spontaneous twists of the trade, Johnson said she has been in the force for “seven long years.”

“I joined because I was sick of the magic assistant game,” Johnson said. “I fell out of a prop on stage during a trick and hurt my tailbone. Did I get sympathy? No. I got yelled at. I still have a lawsuit pending against the magician.

“So I was handing out fliers at RV camper shows for a while. But, I had no dental plan, and there comes a point in a lady’s life when she needs a cavity filled,” she said. “I saw an ad that said that the police department was hiring, and I thought, ‘That sounds okay. I kind of consider myself a warrior goddess so I doctored up drug test results, brought my utility bills and I was hired.”

Johnson disapproves of the movie, but knows people are going to go see it out of spite nonetheless.

“Just know that it is all full of lies. We really do work hard,” she said.