Review: Cedar Rapids

-
Making other people's dreams come true.

That's the philosophy of of Tim Lippe. (Ed Helms) He's a small town insurance salesman who views his occupation as that of a super hero. Saving other people when they are in need of it the most. It's actually a nice way to look at it. Tim has never left home and after a tragedy at work finds himself representing his place of business at a big convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Naive Tim has trouble fitting in with his room mates, Ron (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and Ziegler,(John C. Reilly) and doesn't quite know how to take the advances of Joan (Anne Heche) or even Bree. (Alia Shawkat)

Cedar Rapids is a comedy, but it never quite passes from just "ok" to "amusing." I found Ed Helm's character to be way too over the top to be convincing. He's almost too neurotic. Are we really supposed to believe that Tim would get traveler's cheques for a weekend visit to another state? Or that he wouldn't recognize a prostitute when he shares trysts with his own 7th grade teacher? Helms is constantly over shadowed by John C. Reilly who can turn just about anything into comic gold. Once the movie ends and the credits began to roll, the only think I could think of was "that was just all right." Not bad, but not good. Passable.

Recommended: Yes, for a rainy day perhaps?

Grade: C+

Memorable Quote: "I'm pre-engaged to someone!" - Tim Lippe (Ed Helms)

Comments

  1. DanAugust 4, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    I actually thought that Helms was pretty good but the story was most certainly not. It was all kind of pointless and the conclusion felt completely unearned. Not awful but certainly not anything special.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more