Cedar Rapids (2011)

Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention, where he soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans.

Director:

Miguel Arteta

Writer:

Phil Johnston

Stars:

Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ed Helms	...	Tim Lippe
John C. Reilly	...	Dean Ziegler
Anne Heche	...	Joan Ostrowski-Fox
Isiah Whitlock Jr.	...	Ronald Wilkes
Stephen Root	...	Bill Krogstad
Kurtwood Smith	...	Orin Helgesson
Alia Shawkat	...	Bree
Thomas Lennon	...	Roger Lemke
Rob Corddry	...	Gary
Mike O'Malley	...	Mike Pyle
Sigourney Weaver	...	Macy Vanderhei
Inga R. Wilson	...	Gwen Lemke
Mike Birbiglia	...	Trent
Seth Morris	...	Uncle Ken
Christopher Lemon	...	Rock Climbing Dude #1

Storyline

Tim Lippe (Helms) was the guy people always thought would go places but then he just ... didn't. He's been living in über-sleepy Brown Valley, Wisconsin his whole life, still "pre-engaged" to his 7th grade teacher Macy Vanderhei (Weaver), while selling insurance to protect other people's dreams. But now, Tim's stalled life is about to get a kick-start because, for the first time in his 34 years, he's headed to a "major" metropolis - Cedar Rapids, Iowa - where he must try to save his company at a do-or-die insurance convention that, for him, will be entirely unconventional. From the minute he checks into his hotel with his ancient American Tourister and cummerbund money belt, it's clear Tim has no idea how the modern world really works. He is soon smitten with seductive Nebraskan insurance agent Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Heche) and awed by his experienced roommates, the straight-shooting Ronald Wilkes (Whitlock Jr.) and the suspicious Dean Zeigler (Reilly). Disheartened when he comes ...

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Plot Keywords:

convention | insurance | cedar rapids iowa | hotel | girl in panties | 

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Taglines:

Today Is The First Day... Of The Rest Of His Weekend.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Searchlight [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alocada convención

Filming Locations:

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$302,968, 13 February 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$6,857,503, 22 May 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ad Hominem Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the young call girl, "Bree," is an allusion to the movie "Klute," where Jane Fonda plays a call girl named Bree Daniels, and becomes romantically involved with a square private eye, played by Donald Southerland. In Cedar Rapids, Bree and square insurance salesman, Tim Lippe, almost get to that point, too.

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Goofs

When Dean Ziegler first enters the hotel, he yells to the desk staff to stock the mini-bar in his room, which he says is 1019, yet he, Tim and Ronald are staying in Room 112. However, it is possible that at the time Ziegler may not have known that he was being moved to a different room. Ziegler could have also just been saying nonsense just to get attention.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Tim Lippe: [voice-over] One of the reasons I love Brown Valley so much is that when you do business here, chances are good you know the person you're dealing with.

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Crazy Credits

During the closing credits, the main characters tell (dumb) jokes at the cottage, and a commercial for their new insurance company is shown.

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Connections

Referenced in Maltin on Movies: Unknown & Cedar Rapids (2011)

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Soundtracks

Angels of Destruction
Written by Dave Bielanko (as David) and Serge Bielanko
Performed by Marah
Courtesy of Yep Roc Records
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

So-so comedy but doesn't rise to its potential

This film got reasonable reviews so I decided to make the effort to check it out, not least of which because of the cast that features quite a few names and faces that I know from either being instantly recognizable (Weaver, Reilly, Heche) or from their work on other projects that I like a great deal (The Office, Arrested Development, The Wire etc). The plot here is fairly straightforward, a small-town insurance salesman has to replace a colleague at a regional conference in Cedar Rapids and win the prestigious award that his company has won many years running. It is a simple idea and much of the comedy will come from the sweetly naïve Tim having his eyes opened to a wider world while also trying to keep his principles in place. Like I say, a basic plot and it very much depends on what the script does within that frame.

There are plenty of ideas here and plenty of set-pieces but the problem is that the film doesn't really deliver any of them really well. On one hand we have aspects of it that are the rather awkward naïve comedy that Helms does with his character in The Office. This manifests itself in his relationship with an older woman (she is having fun, he is deeply in love) or his inability to know a prostitute when he sees one. On the other hand we have the more exaggerated adventures he gets drawn into, these involving sex, drink and drugs. Neither of these two aspects is particularly strong either individually or together and, at best, they produce amusing moments and the occasionally laugh but nothing particularly engaging nor particularly funny. Instead what we get is plenty going on in terms of noise and activity and perhaps this is enough to distract and, for me, mostly it was. The actual plot is quite obvious and heads to a sort of solid ending but I was quite surprised by how lackluster much of it was.

The cast are perhaps part of me being disappointed in the outcome but all of them are capable of more. I liked Helms and he played the lead role well, just the material didn't play to his strengths as well as it suggested – it is like it put him between the awkwardness of The Office and the crude slapstick of The Hangover and he didn't sit comfortably between them. Reilly appears to offer the more boisterous side of things but again the film doesn't follow through on what he brings. Heche is a nice touch in casting and works well but Whitlock is wasted; his only contribution of note is to make a great little in-joke where he does an impression of The Wire's Omar (a TV show he was in) – it is funny but it is ruined within seconds since the film feels the need to explain the reference to the viewer. Various other faces do solid work without ever having too much to do, so while some are good, the overall feel is that a great cast don't have much to do. This feeling covers Smith, Shawat Corddry, Root and others.

In the end Cedar Rapids is an OK film that never gets close to delivering on anything it puts on the table. It has an odd mix of styles but it doesn't do any of them really well, which leaves a film loaded with recognizable faces and names, none of whom really excel because the script doesn't either. A solid so-so but no more than that.