CEDAR RAPIDS REVIEW

10:00am on a sunday, happy as a clam with my girl Gigi at TIFF Bell Light box waiting for our next instalment of the reel talk screening series.  Last few movies were epic, momentous and a bloody downer.  Someone said they had to take an afternoon nap after sitting through THE WAY BACK.  Much to our surprise, the series programmer brought a comedy back from Sundance.Cedar Rapids (CR) was it's name and we were ready to laugh.

CR is about an insurance agent Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) who has a body of a 38 year old and the mind of a 14 year old.  He's never left his small hometown. He's never stayed at a hotel. And he's never experienced anything like Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sent to represent his company, Brown Star, at the annual insurance convention, Tim is distracted by three convention veterans (Dean Ziegler-John C. Reilly, Joan Ostrowski- Anne Heche and Ronald Wilkes- Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who will show him the ropes.

It is a story ofsmall town nuances. The excitement small folk take in happy hour and corporate scavenger hunts. The innocent flirtations that often take place at conventions, where the booze is flowing and people are out for adventure. CR manages to keep the audience entertained. At any given point there is a new learning for Tim or a conflict he just didn't see coming.  At one point in the movie, Tim goes to a party with a "friend" who hangs out outside the hotel all the time. His "coming of age" experience  with his friend was worth watching the movie for. I think Gigi and I traumatized a few people around us with our animated laughter and exasperated gasps!  CR progressed nicely and the few story line surprises keep you smiling.  It does end with a bow wrapped around it, but something that's just fine. It wasn't meant to incite self actualization. It was meant to poke fun and entertain, which did both very well.

CR's success as a film relies on the audience finding humor in laughing at the ignorance, nuances and weirdnesses of small town folks. CR will have a small audience who get it and really like it.

PS: If you haven't seen Ed Helms in The Goods:Life Hard, Sell Hard, go see it. He's really funny.

PPSS: Sigourney Weaver is in CR and she's awesome.