Review of Cedar Rapids (2011) by Becky F — 11 Aug 2011

Dean Ziegler: There's a separation between religion and insurance. It's in the constitution. .

"Today Is The First Day... Of The Rest Of His Weekend.".

Cedar Rapids is a hilarious film, with an amazing cast. Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Withlock Jr make up the leads. Then there's a very strong cast of small characters including Mike O'Malley, Kurtwood Smith, Sigourney Weaver, Rob Coddry and Alia Shawkat. Each actor really sells their character, especially Ed Helms in the lead role. He plays Tim Lippe who has never left his home town. He is sent by his boss to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to attend an insurance convention and bring home the Two Diamond award. Once he gets there he starts doing things he has never done in his life.

The film has it's share of slow moments, but most the time it is extremely funny. I really like Ed Helms as a leading actor. After success with The Hangover and The Office, I think he deserves some more big roles in comedies. He's proven himself to be a good comedic actor. Then there's John C. Reilly; who is one of my favorite actors to watch. I like when he does comedies that are outside the Will Farrell type of humor(although I do like those somewhat). He really shines when he does movies like Cyrus and Cedar Rapids. He shines even more when he does films like Criminal and Hard Eight. That's what I'd like to see Reilly get back to; more serious projects then Step Brothers and Talladega Nights.

 I'm a fan of movies like Superbad and Knocked Up, but every time a new movie like that is released; it seems less and less inspired. If feels like they are just throwing them out because teenagers will go see it. Cedar Rapids is the type of comedy we need to see more of.