Cedar Rapids

[modage]

from my blog:
In the 7 years since Sideways was released, countless films (like 2008's Up In The Air) have borrowed the small town ennui that became writer/director Alexander Payne's trademark. Cedar Rapids is the latest film to bear his stylistic imprint, though the first to bear his name, this time as a producer. The film, which premiered at Sundance last month, stars Ed Helms as the sweetly naive Tim Lippe, an insurance salesman sent to a big insurance conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Helms stars alongside a strong cast including (improv powerhouse) John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Alia Shawkat and Sigourney Weaver and a few notable comedians who pop up in small roles.

Helms commits to the role but his character is so naive and childlike it's hard to buy him as a Jack Lemmon-esque everyman as the film might have intended. Reilly is fantastic (as usual) as wildman Dean Ziegler even embuing the character with a bit more depth in a few brief moments. This ends up being the film's biggest problem: it's almost a movie with something to say but goes for broader gags instead of keeping the comedy subdued. With a running time just under 90 minutes and a tone that veers between a broader Hangover-style comedy and a more subdued About Schmidt-like character based one, it ends up more of an entertaining diversion.

Watch the trailer then add it to your Queue.

[SiliasRuby]

Maybe I'm becoming more of a softie as I hit my late 20's but this dark film really touched my heart. Ed Helms was a bit too naive for a lot of moments as mod mentioned but I loved this. John C Reilly hits it out of the park as this blowhard jackass with a lot of heart. In fact I know the John C Reilly character so well that I saw one of oldest friends in that role. There's a small 'Wire' joke that plays off really well. But the writing is sharp and anne heche surprised me. Some of the best comedians in their 40's pop up from time to time in this film. It has just the right amount of uncomfortableness to not make me too freaked out.

[Pedro]

Mild Spoilers?  If worried don't read, just  see it.  It's pretty good.

I saw this a few months ago and I enjoyed it.  

I'd agree that Helms' character is too naive to be completely relatable.  He's a combination of things that don't fit, both sexually experienced and a complete child.  I understand that this lends more dimension to the character, but it's still kind of hard to swallow.  Even so, I guess I didn't really care too much and was able to get past it pretty quickly.  John C. Reilly is the real star here.  His performance is absolutely hysterical.  The funniest things in the film are not the outrageous situations but little moments with his character.

I caught  the first showing in a very small nonprofit theater, 4:30 on a Friday afternoon.  The theater's members are primarily old, and so my friends and I ended up in a theater full of 70 year old women.  Suffice to say that this movie gets off to a bawdy start and stays that way, but everyone was laughing.  Even at the more extreme parts that I won't spoil here.  The more "dark" or "extreme" situations that show up in the movie were unexpected and I thought they struck a nice contrast with the characters, as intended.  Most of all I appreciated that there is very little in the way of moral judgments or life lessons, etc.  I guess you could say that there's one or two to be found, but they're undercut by what precedes them.  So yeah, to echo Silias, I would say that this movie is kind of "dark."  It's not amazing or anything, but it's worth seeing, especially if you like John C. Reilly, and who here doesn't?