Cedar Rapids film review | Under The Radar

Cedar Rapids

Studio: Fox Searchlight
Directed by: Miguel Arteta; Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Feb 11, 2011 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is no 40-year-old virgin. He's 34 and sleeps with his former grade-school teacher, Macy (Sigourney Weaver). But like Steve Carell's Andy Stitzer, he's a sheltered, idealistic innocent with much to learn about society. Tim is devoted to Macy and committed to his job as an insurance agent in the fictional town of Brown Valley, Wisconsin. When Roger Lemke (Thomas Lennon), the star agent of Brown Star Insurance, dies of autoerotic asphyxiation, Tim is sent in his place to represent the company at an annual convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and compete against 50 other agencies to bring home the coveted Two Diamonds award of excellence.

The overarching joke is that, in the eyes of Tim, who doesn't drink and has never flown on a plane, Cedar Rapids is like Las Vegas, thrilling and luxurious but also a hub for temptation and misconduct. He's been instructed by his boss (Stephen Root) to avoid fellow agent Dean Ziegler at all costs, but that becomes impossible when Tim's roommate, Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), accepts a junior upgrade at the hotel by taking on a third roommate, which naturally turns out to be Ziegler (John C. Reilly). With the help of Dean, Ronald, and industry peer Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), Tim loosens up, has some fun and falls into mischief.

Tim isn't that far removed from Helm's character on The Office, Andy Bernard, so the actor locks in pretty well on Tim's childlike naïveté and excitement. We've seen the same wingman shtick from Reilly in previous films, but it doesn't feel tiresome here; he gets the film's funniest lines. Heche, who's worked mostly in TV since her fleeting late-'90s stints as a leading lady in films, is somewhat of a revelation, getting a chance to soften the neurosis and acerbic zip of previous characters with Joan's self-assurance and compassion.

The biggest laughs in Cedar Rapids, directed by Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt), stem from screenwriter Phil Johnston's dialogue, more so than the film's fish-out-of-water scenarios. But there's a charismatic, off-kilter camaraderie among the characters played by Helms, Reilly, Heche and Wilkes that keeps the familiar theme feeling fresh. As much as Cedar Rapids has in common The 40-Year-Old Virgin, it seems to be digging toward something deeper. After his escapades, Tim might not know a whole lot more about the ways of the world, but he has a better understanding of how things operate in America. www.foxsearchlight.com/cedarrapids

Author rating: 6/10

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Average reader rating: 7/10