Review of Cedar Rapids (2011) by Tom R — 11 Aug 2011

Cedar Rapids is about normally boring people breaking out of their shells and it's funnier than you think. It's a perfectly cast movie with Ed Helms as the small town salesman, John C. Reilly as the animated loudmouth, and Sigourney Weaver in a surprisingly funny bit part.

These feel like real characters in real situations, so the comedy feels genuine. It's not perfect as it suffers from a few moral implications and it also succumbs to a relatively new cliche for some fish-out-of-water movies: drugs freeing the normally respectable character's mind.

I think it's a terrible message for the audience and now it's a way for the writer to change the character instantly. Despite this, Cedar Rapids is at least worth a rental and it may not have you rolling on the floor laughing, but it's a well told story with well-developed characters.