Cedar Rapids tells the tale of Tim Lippe, a small town insurance agent played by Ed Helms, who must represent his insurance company at a conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after his co-worker dies of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Fueled by his faith, Tim musters the courage to step out of his bubble for the conference, when things quickly get wild. The film is just as darkly raunchy as this plot synopsis suggests.
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Cedar Rapids is directed by Independent Spirit Award Winner Miguel Arteta, written by Phil Johnston, and hosts a boatload of well-known actors and comedians, including John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver and Alia Shawkat. Well-known to Hollywood insiders and film enthusiasts for some time, the script for Cedar Rapids was on the 2009 Blacklist, which is a list of the most popular, currently unproduced scripts.
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Based on its subject matter and release schedule, Cedar Rapids almost promises to be The Hangover for the “limited release” crowd. A more sophisticated, thought-provoking comedy that still includes lots of drinking, sex and generally disgusting comments. Cedar Rapids mostly rises to this assumption, with lots of seriously twisted darkness. Besides that, Cedar Rapids fits in perfectly with the string of recent comedies, like Hot Tub Time Machine, where the theme is just “things got crazy.”
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The star power and actors involved are possibly Cedar Rapids’s strongest aspects. John C. Reilly stands out particularly, as a rude but friendly insurance agent Tim meets in Cedar Rapids. Reilly, as always, provides consistent humor while remaining realistic and likable. Isiah Whitlock, Jr. also contributes to some of the film’s funniest scenes, playing another insurance agent who can do amazing impressions of characters from The Wire.
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Cedar Rapids is a lot like most of the adult comedies being produced these days, but it’s a little bit more twisted and has above-average talent involved. It’s far from original, but it’s highly entertaining and continues to be just one of the many victories for Ed Helms.
3.5/5