Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith, Alia Shawkat, Thomas Lennon, Rob Corddry, Mike O’Malley and Sigourney Weaver
Directed By: Miguel Arteta
Written By: Phil Johnston
Produced By: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rating: R, for crude and sexual content, language and drug use.
Running Time: Approximately 87 minutes
Website: foxsearchlight.com/cedarrapids
Budget: $8 million
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: March 4, 2011
Following the breakout success of The Hangover, actor Ed Helms – formerly of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and currently of NBC’s “The Office” – headlines 2011’s first truly hilarious comedy, Cedar Rapids.
Directed by Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl, and Youth in Revolt) and written by Phil Johnston, Cedar Rapids casts Helms as Tim Lippe, an affable insurance salesman from small-town Wisconsin who gets a break of sorts when he’s handpicked to represent the firm at the annual convention, which is being held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It’s a preemptive move on his boss’ (Stephen Root) part to quell any potentially negative press that might arise if the salacious details surrounding the firm’s star salesman’s unexpected death were made public.
Tim’s boss wants the firm to snag a prestigious award given annually at the convention that could prove instrumental in keeping the firm afloat. And, unlike his dearly departed colleague, Tim’s rep is squeaky clean, which his boss rightfully figures will come in handy while dealing with the insurance federation’s über-Christian president (Kurtwood Smith), who personally picks the winning firm.
His trip “to the big city” for the convention is akin to a teen getting his driver’s license or a virgin losing his virginity. The child-like wonderment Helms infuses his character with as he’s experiencing all of these firsts throughout the film is funny and undeniably endearing.
The film, and by extension the comedy within it, truly come alive once Tim makes it to Cedar Rapids. Tim befriends three of his fellow attendees: mild-mannered Ronald (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), playful Joan (Anne Heche), and overgrown frat boy Deanzie (a movie-stealing John C. Reilly), with whom Tim shares a hotel suite. Ronald, Joan and Deanzie are all veterans of the convention who show first-timer Tim all the fun (innocent and otherwise) that can be had at such affairs. And, in turn, he reminds them of what’s inherently good and true.
Tim has pretty much walked the straight and narrow path all of his 34 years on the planet. He even considers the outwardly casual fling he’s having with his recently divorced 7th grade teacher (Sigourney Weaver) a relationship and considers them “pre-engaged.” So to say that he’s taken aback by the loose morals his fellow conventioneers exhibit while on vacation from their usual day-to-day lives and responsibilities is an understatement. Soon his own trip down the rabbit hole forces him to do some soul searching and possibly reevaluate things.
And, what a trip it is!
As was the case with Arteta’s previous efforts, Cedar Rapids is about the characters and the story. He establishes clear perimeters and allows his actors to find the nuance and humor in the situation, however awkward or seemingly non-comedic it might be. The chemistry between the four principal actors (Helms, Heche, Reilly and Whitlock) is palpable. Reilly plays an obnoxious middle-aged frat boy for all it’s worth and will hopefully be remembered come Oscar time in the supporting actor race. He completely nails the party animal archetype that we’ve all run into at school and/or company get-togethers. Whitlock, formerly of HBO’s “The Wire,” makes for a winning straight man, and shoots off some hilarious zingers himself, and Heche is aces as the den mother/party girl of the quartet.
Cedar Rapids might not do for Helms what its cinematic cousin The 40-Year-Old Virgin did for his now-former “Office” co-star Steve Carrell, but it certainly shows that he’s more than capable of carrying a film, a hilarious film at that.
4 stars
