Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention, where he soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans.
Plot
I had to share this little film I watched the other night with you.
Why? Because its a classic example of how to make a great, little independent film that is way better than any of it's Indie bigger brothers and sisters.
Cedar Rapids comes at a time when these Indie films are ten a penny. Little Miss Sunshine and Juno proved that with a certain film style you can reap Oscars. These films aren't great in my opinion (Little Miss Sunshine good, Juno, rubbish) but they have now paved the way for numerous pretenders to the crown.
Well Cedar Rapids is a film that betters both of the aforementioned movies but will undoubtedly be one you will have to seek out. The film is crammed with style, substance and intelligence, all of that accomplished with a mundane central premise. Insurance convention.
Yup, the central premise is that a guy goes to his annual insurance convention to promote his company in order to win the prestigious Twin Diamond award for the fourth year running. Sounds pretty boring right? Wrong. Cedar Rapids has a heart twice as big as most films helped along with its characters and their relative story arcs.
Tim Lippe (Ed Helms), our central protagonist, is a small town insurance salesman. Never causes a fuss and is a straight, by the numbers, nice kind of guy. He lives a very sheltered life and has a casual relationship with his old school teacher played by Sigourney Weaver. When the 'big dog' at work is found dead, Tim is chosen to head to Cedar Rapids to represent the company at the annual insurance convention and bring back the Twin Diamonds award for a fourth successive year. Or be fired.
So off he goes displaying genius small town mentalities like not being able to recognize when a prostitute is offering her services and his resistance in giving his credit card to the hotel reception to secure his room. All very low key things but played pitch perfectly by Helms.
At the convention he bonds with regulars Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and the amazing Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly). Through these three amigos Lippe finds out how to really start living his life and along the way experience new adventures and feelings he never knew he had. Yes I know this sounds incredibly cheesy, and maybe it is, but cheese filmed and acted in this way is subtly brilliant and okay in my book.
Make no bones about it, this is a coming of age film of a middle aged man. All the things you'd expect to happen to Lippe in his journey of self discovery (yes another cheesy line) happen but the fact of the matter is, that this story just draws you right in and you really don't care, your just there for the ride (another one, cheesy McCheese).
Helms maybe a solid central lead but the fact of the matter is Reilly owns this movie right from his first introduction all the way through to closing credit sequence. He's just a fantastic actor that lends weight to anything he's attached to. Utterly brilliant throughout and eats up the scenery. The rest of the crew all play along and keep the tone of their performances just right.
The only slight beef I have with the film is the ill-judged drug infused prostitute adventure that Lippe embarks on. It's something that seems out of place with the rest of the film and doesn't really go anywhere. Due to the short running time I can only assume it was put in there to stretch it out a little.
I recommend this as essential viewing, its an easy to watch, fantastic little film which deserves, but probably won't get, the kind of attention the Indie Oscar winning films have.
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