*** out of ****
Directed by: Miguel Arteta
Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Sigourney Weaver
Running time: 87 minutes
A wholesome insurance salesman travels to the heartland to make his debut at an insurance convention only to find the sleazy undercurrents of corporate America waiting for him.
It sounds like an early contender for next year’s Documentary Short Subject Oscar, but is actually a sweet-and-sour comedy starring the endearing dweebiness of The Office star Ed Helms.
What does the “sweet-and-sour” refer to? The blending of R-rated raunch and pure sentimentality, a formula frequently championed by writer/director Judd Apatow (who was not involved in the making of Cedar Rapids).
The film, instead, is a large rebound for comedy director Miguel Arteta, whose last project, the insipid and unfunny Youth in Revolt, only pulled off the lowbrow crudeness of the mixture.
Here, Helms is the blissfully naïve Tim Lippe (rhymes with “nippy”), a respected insurance man from the tiny town of Brown Valley, Wisconsin. After his superior dies in an embarrassing fashion, Lippe is suddenly asked by his boss (Stephen Root) to replace him in an annual industry convention in Iowa.
To add to the protagonist’s worries, he is pressured to win the coveted Double Diamond award, a prestigious trophy that was given to his company the two years prior.
Upon his arrival in Cedar Rapids, Lippe shacks up in a junior suite with the naughty Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly, in all of his buffoonish glee) and the sweet-natured Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr., in all of his deadpan glory). But he is instantly drawn to the wry, flirtatious bundle of fun that is Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche, rarely better).
The three insurance conventions specialists tell our couth protagonist that what happens in Iowa… well, you know the rest.
While most comedies would now choose to highlight the zany, situational comedy (The Hangover, another hit for Helms, comes to mind), Cedar Rapids downplays the wacky theatrics and instead focuses on the interactions between the characters.
Anchored by an excellent cast of strong comic performers who work off each other wonderfully, including extended cameos from Alia Shawkat (Maebe from Arrested Development) and Kurtwood Smith (Red Forman from That 70’s Show), the comedy hits hard and the drama moves forward without seeping too much into the light fabric.
Any of the actors could have stolen the film by themselves, but Cedar Rapids happens to work better because the hilarity is the worthy sum of a group component.
In his strong debut, scribe Phil Johnston understands that comedy can only develop if the characters grow with it. Joan and Dean, whose first impressions are as one-dimensional floozies and sleazes, respectively, get the opportunity to show both their wild side and their troubled dilemmas through their frosty marital problems.
It takes Johnston and Arteta about 20 minutes to get on the same page of how to blend raunch with sweetness, and the film’s opening scenes feel awkward, without much flair for comedic or dramatic timing. For instance, Sigourney Weaver’s brief stint as Tim’s old schoolteacher who is now bedding him, feels tacked on. The death of a minor character near the start also feels like a wasted dramatic opportunity that is sadly skimmed over.
Regardless, the writer and director finally find their rhythm. When one of the lines uttered toward the end is an invitation to anal sex but is delivered with a tone that can be best described as poignant, they reach the jackpot.
It helps when you have a fine ensemble of character actors who bring both dramatic depth and comedic panache to their roles. This Iowa-set picture isn’t perfect, but it isn't far from comedy heaven, either.
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