Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids

I continue to punish myself and pretend that the film might be better than the reviews suggest. I know all the great films have been released for this year so I would even settle for second best. This film should be on a C or D list. Don’t waste your time.

Ed Helms plays the part of Tim Lippe. He is an insipid insurance salesman. He doesn’t drink and leads a very sheltered life. He is having an affair with a former teacher. I guess that does count as being alive in the real word.

He is sent to Cedar Rapids for an insurance conference. He is also hoping to pick up the big trophy for his boss who has to attend his daughter’s wedding. (Wouldn’t he have known in advance when the wedding was? Wouldn’t he have known in advance when the annual conference was taking place?

He rooms with two other men. At first he is startled to discover that his room mate is a black American but soon finds out that he is a ‘good guy.’ The other room mate is coarse, crude, obnoxious and a pain in the neck.

A young female insurance worker who also is attending the conference wants a vacation from her family. She turns out to be quite a wild one. She gets Tim to drink, take drugs and swim in his underwear in the pool. Quite a transformation!

Tim finds out things about the company that he doesn’t like and he also realizes that he has behaved badly.

I have been to conferences and know that bad behavior is often the game so that wasn’t surprising. People will often act in a way that is totally contradictory to their normal behavior. Tim does discover himself and has a bit of fun getting there.

The question is will you have a bit of fun watching?

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