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Ed Helms, Anne Heche, John C. Reilly, Sigourney Weaver, Isiah Whitlock Jr. ... see more see more... , Stephen Root , Kurtwood Smith , Alia Shawkat , Thomas Lennon , Rob Corddry , Mike O'Malley , Inga Wilson , Mike Birbiglia , Seth Morris , Christopher Lemon , Sudhi Rajagopal , Chris DiAngelo , Lindsey Alexandra Hartley , Welker White , John Djurovski , Charlie Sanders , Craig Janos , Tracey Maloney , Steve Blackwood , Carl Harry Carlson , Kenneth Wood , Lisa Lacasse , James Howard Carr , David Rhoads , Bruce Giffin , Teresa Yenque , Helen-Jean Arthur , Michael Tuba Heatherton , Leisa Pulido , Ed Jewett , Zackary Hamlin , Kimberly Moncrieff , Linda Riker , Michael Buie , Roz Music , Loit Maripuu , Bruce Lawson , Ian Minicuci , Penny Gibbs , Victor Pytko , Sandy Gittleson , Richard L. Fox , John F. McCormick , Joanne McGee , Hayley Zeccardi

To call insurance agent Tim Lippe (Ed Helms), "naïve" is a gross understatement. He's never left his small hometown. He's never stayed at a hotel. And he's never experienced anything like Cedar Rapids... read more read more..., Iowa. Sent to represent his company at the annual insurance convention, Tim is soon distracted by three convention veterans (John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who will show him the ropes and push his boundaries. For a guy who plays everything by the book, this convention will be anything but conventional -- (C) Fox Searchlight

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22,449 ratings

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86% liked it

154 critics

R, 1 hr. 27 min.

Directed by: Miguel Arteta

Release Date: February 11, 2011

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DVD Release Date: June 21, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (2,165)

  • paulsandberg
    March 22, 2012
    paulsandberg
    In Cedar Rapids you have a comedy that is really more satiric yet with a heart. Director Miguel Arteta manages to present a great deal more than the typical rube out of his element comedy that this appears to be on the surface. Somehow, just when the film seems teetering into r... read moreote conventions, Arteta gives the film some added depth, and dare I say it poignancy (not often you see that word in a comedy). It doesn't hurt that the performances throughout are first rate, from Anne Heche as the married woman who just wants to have fun at the convention, yet feels her responsibility for the family she has left behind for the duration, to John C. Reilly as the blowhard heavy drinking salesman who, in a surprising show of depth, has ethics and a strong moral code.

    There are many jokes in this film concerning a naïve insurance salesman from a small Midwest town who is forced to represent his company at the Cedar Rapids insurance convention, and while not all of them work, there is enough meat here to satisfy. Ed Helms walks a tightrope with his rube character, showing his unsophisticated side, while not falling into vaudevillian farce. When we first see Helms he is having a quirky sexual encounter with his former high school teacher (a wonderful cameo by Sigorney Weaver). We become aware of his naivette and rather skewed outlook on the world, which becomes the backbone of the film.

    Through the usual shenanigans of the convention "let's have some fun" motif, Helms slowly becomes more aware of the real world, while still holding on to his soul, and that's the wonderfulness of the script and direction, and really what makes the film rise above so many of the screwball comedy/buddy films out there.

    As I mentioned, not all the jokes work, but often the jokes are used to set up the character's depth and a throwaway line ends up coming back later to show that these conventioneers have real lives and real feelings. And yet there are some pretty darned funny moments - as when, after a drink fest, Reilly leads Heche and Helms to the hotel pool, where he spies a metal trash can. Taking off the metal lid of the can he places it on his head and proclaims it the top of an old style diving bell - just the simple look of Reilly standing in the pool with this trash can lid on his head is hilarious; and taking it a step further, Helms tells Reilly that he looks like R2D2 - which prompts Reilly to reply "beep beep".

    I also got quite a laugh out of the straightlaced anacronym spewing black salesman, portrayed by Isaiah Whitlock. In one scene he and Heche try to rescue Helms, who has been snorting crack at a redneck party. The stiff Whitlock suddenly goes gansta, uttering gutter slang and saying he's locked and loaded and always keeps one in the chamber. As they make their getaway Heche asks him where the jive came from and he replies that he loves to watch The Wire and has a thing for Omar (watch the show, really - it's super good).

    I was pleasantly surprised by this film, especially in the way it kept rescuing itself from the normal average of the genre. The closing bits that play over the credits are just homespun easy humor, the kind you used to get watching The Carol Burnett Show, and show that Areta really knew what he was trying to accomplish with this film.
  • FrizzDrop
    January 16, 2012
    FrizzDrop
    A brainy comedy about an insurance salesman on the ride of his life in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a conference; vying for a major award and finding unexpected fun and friendships along the way. It's an awkward outsider meets quirky companions meets coming of age story, starring the h... read moreo hum Ed Helms as what appears to be a watered down version of himself. There isn't much comedy to this film, neither belly laughs nor exceptional wit to spare, but it is eccentric and sweet in places. Mostly though, this film contains a quiet realism and strange hope for the main character that endears us to his plight and the vulnerable standard Ed Helms brings to poor Tim Lippe. For some reason the plot is a sleeper even though the characters aren't much of a stand out. Though the performances given by Anne Heche, John C. Reilly, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. were superb, they didn't do anything new, nothing extraordinary. Though I didn't need to have any real raunch to laugh, Reilly tries to be an unruly mess and just comes off as a repressed slob. It may have been the intent to capture real people and better highlight Lippe's embarrassment and naivetà (C) towards the office politics and backstabbing going on behind the scenes, but this wasn't supposed to be a human drama. I didn't laugh once during the entire thing, and the only real conflict in this film had no real stakes and didn't have a very interesting ending to attach to it. I did like the journey the character went through, the different stages of rebellion Lippe experiences and the unconventional storyline's way of keeping our eyebrows raised. Still, there was room for improvement.
  • Nathang110
    January 3, 2012
    Nathang110
    What happens in the rapids, stays in the rapids. This film follows a naive insurance agent as he goes to competition, and becomes a little more street smart. Despite its overly worldly themes, cedar rapids manages to be sweet natured thanks to performances by John c Reilly and Ed... read more helms. Rapids works well and is a feel good movie with plenty of humor and drama for everyone.
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    December 31, 2011
    LoughnerWasLucid
    i was mildly interested until i saw the joke in the trailer where the two guys are talking and one has his shirt off and the other guy touches his boobs and you just KNOW someone is gonna walk in and--- "Im not even gonna ask!"
    HAHAHAHAH LOL! LOL!
  • fb791220692
    November 13, 2011
    fb791220692
    Cedar Rapids makes this much clear: Any premise, no matter how generic it seems, can become a great movie if the characters involved are interesting and true enough, and the script moves along with purpose. Cedar Rapids succeeds in taking a boring field (insurance) and making a c... read moreomedy and a case study that feels so much fresher than one might suspect. The care in which each character (no matter how minor) is crafted in Cedar Rapids, and then the way in which they interact with each other makes watching it a supremely enjoyable experience. However, it is the way in which that the average premise is played out by some intensely abnormal human beings that makes Cedar Rapids shine.
  • fb100002359227440
    October 26, 2011
    fb100002359227440
    It's a nice, funny and entertaining film with a interesting plot, but Cedar Rapids is not what I really expect. The script turn to be weak, just like the direction. Anyway this comedy altogether is a good film due to the black humor. Fresh.
  • fb576007796
    October 25, 2011
    fb576007796
    Alot better than I expected.
  • mrbungle7821
    October 18, 2011
    mrbungle7821
    When people think about the temptations and sundry thrills of the Big City, most people are probably thinking of a sin-stained location like Las Vegas. Most people would not confuse Vegas with Cedar Rapids, and yet the Iowa city of note is the setting for a sweet and sometimes di... read morerty, but still sweet, comedy of big-city adventures. To a guy from a town without a stoplight, Cedar Rapids is like New York City. It all depends on your perspective.

    Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is an insurance salesman from Brown Valley, Wisconsin. The town is small but the little insurance agency that could has won the coveted Two Diamond Award four years running at the annual insurance convention held in Cedar Rapids. Tim's life is in a holding pattern. He wants to do big things but can't find the oomph to get there. He's involved in a romantic tryst with his (one-time) seventh grade teacher (Sigourney Weaver). Tim's chance to make a name for himself comes when he's selected to represent his company at the annual convention. He has to impress the right people to take home another Two Diamond Award. Never having been on a plane before, he leaves small-town Brown Valley for big-city Cedar Rapids. At the convention site, Tim rooms with Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and the more unsophisticated Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly). The group meets up with Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), and together they work on helping Tim loosen up. Over the course of the weekend, bonds will be made, principles will be tested, and tom foolery of the first order will be had.

    The premise is rather simple, small-town guy heads to the big city (well, bigger) and the culture shock that waits. But the film never looks down on Tim Lippe. While there is plenty of humor drawn from his naiveté, the movie doesn't condescend or play up the small-town folks as rubes and squares. It's funny to see Tim's mild-mannered explosions of anger, mostly of the "horse pucky" variety of vulgarities, but the movie doesn't say that the big-city folk are better than Tim. On the contrary, Tim is a principled and devoted insurance salesman, courteous to a fault. He could have stepped out of a Frank Capra movie from a bygone era (Mr. Lippe Goes to Town). Tim is sheltered, which provides some amusing fish out of water comedy, like when he initially is on alert because his roommate is African-American, a rarity in Brown Valley despite whatever the name may imply to some. Tim is a man out of time, but that can be small-town life in general. The Midwestern satire reminds me of the gentle yet knowing nudge of King of the Hill. Phil Johnston's script sets up Tim's dilemma as a crisis of conscience, the compromises we make in morality. Tim's trip to the "big city" is the push the guy needs to get his life out of stasis. There's something deeply satisfying in watching a character you care about triumph in the end, even if that triumph is a small victory befitting a small-town guy with a big heart.

    The real fun of the movie, however, is watching the effect the group has not just on Tim but on each other. They teach Tim to cut loose and live a little, but this is still Cedar Rapids, so cutting loose goes as far as nighttime pool escapades and drunken sex. His flirtatious fling with Joan brings the guy out of his shell, and the two of them are genuinely cute together without going overboard. It's a reserved romance that feels true to the nature of both of the characters. Dean is the loudmouth knucklehead notorious for his oafish shenanigans, but once he feels accepted he goes to war for his friends. He's a buffoon but not stupid. And then Ronald, though less developed than the other three, provides a nice foil as a straight-laced businessman who keeps it together impressively. Together it's a team of likeable characters that have grown closer together over the course of that weekend in Cedar Rapids, and you'll feel the same. You feel like they've formed a family around the earnestness of Tim.

    Helms (The Hangover) is a suitable candidate for a nice, regular, Midwestern guy. Helms has honed his awkward comedy chops after several seasons on TV's The Office, and here he sticks to what he knows. Tim Lippe is another in a line of embryonic men. Helms settles into his usual nervous tics that fans will be familiar with. His sunny naiveté wins over the audience and provides for several laughs in contrast with the jaded "big city" folk. Reilly (Step Brothers) can overdo his character's intentional obnoxiousness. He's chartered a successful second career as a winsome nitwit, so like Helms, Reilly relies on notes gleaned from past performances. Whitlock Jr. is mostly straight man to the others. His comedic highpoint is an impromptu impersonation of a character from The Wire to get the group out of a dangerous jam (Whitlock Jr. himself played a state senator on The Wire). Other than that, he's more contrast than character. Heche (TV's Hung) is a real surprise. She underplays her character, tantalizing us with tidbits that leave us wanting more, much like Tim. The way she plays Joan, you feel the connection.

    With all that said, Cedar Rapids still has its share of flaws. The naïve comedy can go so far before you start to question Tim's senses, like his casual mistaking of a prostitute (Alia Shawkat, Whip It) for a fellow attendant. His relationship with his former seventh grade teacher is intentionally awkward, but the whole plotline presents an unseemly overtone that doesn't fit. She's made to be rather motherly, even when she's rolling her eyes at her bedmate's pie-eyed declarations of being "pre-engaged." I think the motherly aspect makes the whole Oedipal mess even worse (Weaver just seems bored). Late into Act Three Tim goes on a drug-fueled bender that feels out of place for his character who, when first asked for a drink, requested a beer of the root kind. The character of Dean is given too many moments to just wander around and spout crude one-liners. It sometimes feels like the movie is resting while it lets Dean do his thing, and a little of this guy can go a long way.

    The plot is relatively predictable and the ending is pretty pat. It works, but the actors and the characters were capable of more. The relationship between Tim and Joan also leaves something to be desired. There's a great assembly of recognizable guests (Stephen Root, Thomas Lennon, Rob Corddry, Mike Birbiglia) that stop by but add little. Again, the potential for more feels missed. With a solid 80% of the movie taking place in a hotel, you can also start to feel a little cabin fever. And not that it matter much, but I'm disappointed that film with "Cedar Rapids" in its name was filmed in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Iowa did away with its in-state film tax credit).

    The appeal of Cedar Rapids, the film, is much like the appeal of its central figure, Tim Lippe. It's an unassuming, earnest charm, enjoying the company of likeable characters who we want to see succeed. I just wish the predictable plot had done more or trusted the actors' capabilities. The core characters feel mostly authentic and easily recognizable, which makes the familiar, if at times bland, plot fairly forgivable. Helms and company are an easygoing bunch and you'll be happy to tag along on their unspectacular hijinks in the "big city." Cedar Rapids is the kind of low-key, charming little movies that often gets overlooked. It's worth viewing for the pleasurable camaraderie of the core cast. Cedar Rapids, much like the city that bears its name, is worth a visit but does not require more commitment than that.

    Nate's Grade: B
  • TomBowler
    September 29, 2011
    TomBowler
    Flawed, certainly, but refreshing and fun with a great performance from John C. Reilly. Full review later.
  • Godless
    September 17, 2011
    Godless
    Humorous enough that I didn't hate it. slow enough so that I didn't love it.

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Critic Reviews

Anthony Lane
February 28, 2011
Anthony Lane, New Yorker

These folk are undistinguished yet distinctive, and the film, for all the familiar grind of its plotting, pays them their honest due. Full Review

Tom Long
February 18, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

Considering it has to do with infidelity, bribery, drugs, drinking, loutish behavior, fraud and prostitution, Cedar Rapids is really kind of a sweet movie. Full Review

Peter Rainer
February 18, 2011
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

Cedar Rapids takes an inordinate number of wrong turns, but it also has an inordinate number of good laughs mixed in with the not-so-good ones. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
February 17, 2011
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

Helms delivers a performance of touching delicacy, one almost as remarkable as that of Tom Hanks in Big. Full Review

Chris Vognar
February 17, 2011
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

Like a slightly twisted, modern-day Frank Capra fable... Full Review

Wesley Morris
February 17, 2011
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

I imagine the director, Miguel Arteta, is the reason the movie succeeds as well as it does. He mutes the obnoxiousness and concentrates on the performances, nearly all of which are excellent and marke... Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
February 17, 2011
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

A really entertaining effort, aided by some terrific performances. Full Review

James Berardinelli
February 12, 2011
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Cedar Rapids is a quirky comedy that crossbreeds two common cinematic staples: the mismatched buddy movie and the fish-out-of-water scenario. Full Review

Tom Charity
February 12, 2011
Tom Charity, CNN.com

Such sweetness makes the raunch in this honestly funny movie even funnier. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
February 11, 2011
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

When this mix of hopeful and edgy works, you get something like "Little Miss Sunshine." And when it doesn't, you get a cocktail with a bad smell, one part sunny to two parts vulgar. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Dean Ziegler: What do you call an anorexic with a yeast infection? A quarter pounder with cheese!
    • Joan Ostrowski-Fox: Thank you, Insurance Man.
    • Tim Lippe: Cream sherry.
    • Dean Ziegler: Cream sherry. This one's weird!
    • Ronald Wilkes: Of course I have my guilty pleasures... like antiquing.
    • Ronald Wilkes: NTS, that's Not Too Shabby
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