Cedar Rapids

Directed by Miguel Arteta, Cedar Rapids follows small-town insurance salesman Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) as he arrives at the title locale for an annual convention – with the film subsequently detailing Tim’s fish-out-of-water exploits within the comparatively big city. Arteta has infused Cedar Rapids with a decidedly low-key feel that’s reflected rather keenly in Phil Johnston’s observational, uneventful screenplay, and there’s little doubt that the film initially benefits from Helms’ wide-eyed turn as the guileless central character. (Having said that, the movie occasionally does go a little too far in portraying Tim’s naiveté – with his shock at meeting his black roommate, whom he refers to as an “Afro American,” undoubtedly the best example of this.) The pleasant vibe is heightened and perpetuated by a strong supporting cast that includes Anne Heche, Stephen Root, and Kurtwood Smith, though it’s John C. Reilly, playing a notoriously gregarious fellow salesman, that ultimately walks away with the title of MVP – as the actor delivers a larger-than-life performance that provides the movie with sporadic bursts of much-needed energy. The affable yet far-from-engrossing atmosphere holds steady right up until around the one-hour mark, after which point the film’s pervasively subdued sensibilities become a little oppressive – with the presence of a few melodramatic plot twists compounding the progressively uninvolving feel. Still, Cedar Rapids is, for the most part, an agreeable little comedy that gets plenty of mileage out of its quirky premise and its impressively off-kilter cast.

**1/2 out of ****