Cedar Rapids: First let me say, this hits close to home because I’m certain beyond a shadow of a doubt…that I work with these people. Ed Helms is Tim Lippe, a nebbish insurance salesman sent by his boss to his first insurance convention in Cedar Rapids after their top-sales guy dies by auto-erotic asphyxiation. His company is in the running for a Two-Diamond Award, bestowed on the insurance agency that displays, amongst other things, moral fortitude, and it‘s up to Tim to bring the award home because he‘s all his boss (played by Stephen Root) has. A naive neophyte, Lippe makes new friends, some of whom aren’t the best influences, including the boisterous Dean (John C. Reilly) and Joan (Anne Heche), who seduces him. On top of that, his illusions about the convention, its award, and Tim himself come crashing down on him, as well. Alia Shawkat, Kurtwood Smith, Sigourney Weaver, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (doing a very funny riff on “The Wire”, which he starred in) are here in support. I can attest that, indeed, wild stuff does happen at often becoming heavily intoxicated. Maybe not as much crack smoking as happens in “Cedar Rapids”, but it’s definitely a ‘what happens in town/city X, stays in town/city X” vibe. The cast has good chemistry together, there are a few laughs, though not as many as the trailer would have you believe. And like director Miguel Arteta’s other films like “Youth in Revolt”, it’s got good bits, but it’s not a great picture. Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look”.
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