Cedar Rapids (2011–87 mins) Ed Helms,  John C Reiley

Tim Lippe (Helms) is a small town eternally straight as an arrow (and naive) insurance salesman who is utterly sheltered from the world. He is so sheltered that his only romantic contact is his current girlfriend who happens to have been his 7th grade teacher. Every year his insurance company sends a salesman to the annual convention where they give a presentation to try and earn a top honor award. The fate of the branch each year essentially rides on the award. Lippe’s branch has gotten it for a few years now but the golden boy of the branch suddenly dies and it’s thrust upon Tim to take the reigns of the presentation. This then brings us to the first 1/2 of the crux of the comedy of the movie, the Amish-like Lippe in the big city of Cedar Rapids.

That aspect of it is pretty funny and all but quickly becomes old hat and more annoying then anything else. The good part of that is the 1/2 half of the comedy comes from the 3 crazy personalities he meets once he gets to the convention. First we have his two room-mates,  ZIegler and Wilkes. Ziegler (Reiley) is the life of the party type guy who is the center of all rooms he is in. Wilkes, being the other roommate is an extreme satirical oreo. The last and possibly the one who breaks him out of his shell the most is the devilishly beautiful Joan (Anne Heche). Joan manages to help Tim adjust to the big time of the convention scene and corrupting him just a tad in the process. The foursome have a great time and in the process show time there is more to life then just getting by. They seem to use the weekend away as their do anything they want weekend. A break from everyday life and their own suburban trip to Vegas.

The movie moves fairly well and does a fine job of making us laugh. There are times where it wants to be funnier then it really is but all in all it’s a good comedy. It isn’t one that is begging for a sequel but it’s one that is begging for a few watches later on cable. A standout in the film is Isiah Whitlock playing the look like a badass sound like Ward Clever Wilkes. He does the deadpan delivery so well that he made me laugh my ass off every time he opened his mouth. Yet this is a real oddball set of 4 people to get together but somehow the chemistry just works and the movie is well received and nice and short but possibly one or two scenes short as they surely could have made this a 95-100 min affair.

Verdict–> This is another in a long line of “this should be funnier” movies. Yet, that being said “Cedar Rapids” still feels a bit me satisfying then “Hall Pass” or other let downs. It’s a good comedy rental and I think most people will enjoy it. Pick it up a great stand alone or double feature movie.

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