Comedy 'Cedar Rapids' enjoyable surprise
Fox Searchlight
Anne Heche and Ed Helms in a scene from "Cedar Rapids."
Tim
Lippe is a nerdy, sheltered individual whose life changes when he
goes to an insurance convention in the big city of Cedar Rapids in
the unexpectedly good comedy “Cedar Rapids.”
The
insurance chain emphasizes God, family and doing right by the
customer. Yes, the agents could sell more insurance than to
unsuspecting customers, but they strive to be honest.
Ed
Helmes plays Lippe, who goes to the conference in order to retain the
top insurance award for their little agency in Brown Valley, Wis. A
fellow agent usually attended the conference, but he died
accidentally while trying to choke himself during a sexual act.
Tim
is naive. He sleeps regularly with his old seventh-grade teacher,
played by Sigourney Weaver.
As
a youngster, he was the guy expected to go places in the world, but
instead he works to help others achieve their dreams.
His
life changes in a big way when he lands in Cedar Rapids.
A
prostitute asks for a cigarette as a come-on to determine if he might
be a customer. But Tim is oblivious to her occupation, tells her
smoking is bad and offers her some butterscotch candy.
He
shares a suite at the convention with conventional agent Ronald
Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and party-hardy Dean Ziegler, played by
John C. Reilly.
Add
into the mix Anne Heche, who plays Joan Ostrowski-Fox, who is married
with children but uses the convention to find a sex partner for the
weekend.
Kurtwood
Smith plays the paternal president of the company. Before they eat,
he leads them in prayer. He gives fatherly advice.
Tim
must do a one-on-one presentation to Smith’s character in order to
retain the big award and thus insure the viability of the franchise.
The
film has some of the raunchiness of “The Hangover” and its ilk,
but is slightly more conventional.
That
doesn’t mean the film isn’t worth the effort. I found it on HBO’s
on demand channel and was surprised how much I liked the film.
Everybody
is out to achieve their own goals, but they appear to be there to
help their fellow agents as well.
Of
course, not everything is as it seems.
There
is a humanity to the Ziegler character you didn’t expect and the
plot has enough unexpected twists and turns to keep you entertained.
The
characters also are multi-dimensional. You can see their different
sides and they offer some surprises, even the prostitute.
I
was not expecting a whole lot from the film but was pleasantly
surprised.
The
nerdy Helms’ character really helped to give the film an extra
depth of humanity that made it unique and enjoyable.
But
keep in mind this isn’t the Waltons of insurance agents. There’s
plenty in the film to give it the R rating.
CEDAR
RAPIDS
- Directed by Miquel Arteta
- Written by Phil Johnston
- Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and drug use
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- 3 stars out of 4