Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids

          After all the serious Oscar movies, it is nice just to see a fun movie.  That’s what Cedar Rapids is… fun and funny.  The Director, Miguel Arteta, has a love of small towns and the people who inhabit them.  Most of his films take place in small town America.  ‘Youth in Revolt’ and ‘The Good Girl’ were dark movies with just a slight comedic edge and explored the psyche of small town America.  Cedar Rapids is a full-fledged comedy, however; that doesn’t mean that there aren’t profound insights to be found.

            Miguel Artega pokes, prods, and makes fun of all the typical things we make fun of about small town America.  No joke or stereotype is too cliché, but you can tell he does it with love and affection.  Neither the Director nor the script looks down upon these characters.  They are fully fleshed out human beings.  You can tell Miguel loves the naiveté and genuineness displayed by these characters.  There’s something gratifying about their lack of worldliness.

            Tim Lippe (Ed Helms in his first starring role) is an insurance salesman who has never left his small town of Brown Valley, Wisconsin.  In fact, he is so sheltered that, at the age of 34, has just started to have sex and the woman just happens to be his newly divorced former 6^th grade teacher (played hilariously by Sigourney Weaver).  Life is going  great for Tim until the Agency’s star spokesman and Tim’s hero, Roger Lemke (Reno:911’s Thomas Lennon playing the slickster perfectly), dies in an embarrassing auto-erotic asphyxiation accident (is there any other kind).  The Agency’s boss, Bill Krogstad (played by the fantastic character actor, Stephen Root [I can’t wait until he’s a household name]) is in a panic.  Roger Lemke was always the Agency’s representative at the annual ASMI convention in Cedar Rapids and has brought home the prestigious ‘2 Star Diamond’ award for the last 4 years.  Krogstad has reservations about Lippe, but decides to send him anyway.  His send off speech to him; “Tim, when you where 16 yrs old, I thought that here was a kid who was going to go places and then somehow, you just didn’t… don’t let me down”. 

            Miguel Arteta takes much delight showing Lippe’s wide-eyed wonder as he leaves his town for the first time and goes to the most debaucherous sin city of the mid-west; Cedar Rapids, IA.  Lippe even finds the airport security line to be exciting.  He is giddy as he checks into his hotel that has an atrium and small triangle indoor pool.  Every step of the way he calls his girlfriend/teacher to extol the virtues of the big city.  He notes the chlorine-perfumed atrium, the crystal blue hotel pool and fake potted palm trees that are everywhere.  He excitedly exclaims; “I feel like I’m in Barbados’.  The smallest things that we all take for granted delight Lippe to no end.  He finds everything "Awesome".  When the flight attendant gives him a second bag of honey roasted peanuts..."Super Awesome"

            It is here we meet the rest of the cast.  His roommate is Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock, Jr) a black man who is probably the most straight-laced guy at the conference.  Lippe panics and calls his girlfriend/teacher; “Honey, there is an Afro-American in my room”.  Once he overcomes his shock, they become fast friends. Joan Ostrowski-Fox (played with world-weary beauty by Anne Heche) is a married insurance agent who looks forward to the annual convention to escape her dreary family life.  I’ve always thought of Anne Heche as a bit flaky, but she really pulls off her role.  You can really see the sadness behind her party exterior.  Her life didn’t turn out as she planned. “What happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids” she confides at one point.  Finally there is Dean ‘Deanzie’ Ziegler, played by John C. Riley channeling the best Bill Murray performances.  He’s loud, smug, sleazy, and inappropriate.  He’s a self styled party machine who steals every scene he is in.  His strategy for winning debates: “Volume, proximity, and attitude”.  Even the short skirted prostitute Bree (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawcat) who stands outside the hotel has an innocent charm.  Lippe is so naïve that he doesn’t realize she is a prostitute.   He takes it at face value when she asks if he wants to party.  He replies that maybe he will run into her at the party in the hotel lounge.

            This movie is sweet, charming, raunchy, and dirty all at the same time.  The characters play in perfect ensemble and we laugh at things we recognize in our everyday life.  Everyone is funny, but Reilly is over the top hilarious with his raunchiness.  Every time he opens his mouth you can’t believe what comes out even though you are braced for it.  I didn’t realize how much I missed that Bill Murray style of slob comedy.

            Ultimately, this movie is an affectionate, comedic look at small town America and a lampoon of the insurance business.  Everything we see is familiar and relatable.  The more we recognize and relate, the harder we laugh.

            This is a funny insightful comedy with a perfect cast.

           

I rate this... wait for it "Super Awesome"  ****