Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Movie Review

Ed Helms in a different kind of hangover.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater June 20, 2011

In NBC’s The Office, Ed Helms plays a loveable Ivy League flunky turned paper salesman, a prep in pastel pants—he clearly buys all his outfits on sale at the J. Crew outlet—who’s given to reminiscing about his glory days in Cornell’s acapella choir. While his small town insurance rep character in Cedar Rapids is different enough to be its own entity, the similarities are unavoidable: Both are good-natured dweebs, both have been stunted by arrested emotional development, and both shill products no one is particularly excited about. I’m not saying Helms has been or should be typecast, but he’s clearly adept at playing dorky everymen, total squares who push boring business essentials and life insurance policies. It also makes sense that Cedar Rapids borrows much of its general vibe from The Office. It’s cruder, yes, and definitely earns its R-rating, but it’s also infused with a pleasant, middle-American mixture of sweetness and mild depression. Its characters are so ensconced in workaday routine that something so dull as an insurance convention at a rinky-dink hotel becomes the highlight of their year.

Helms is Tim Lippe, an inexperienced thirtysomething who’s never been outside Minnesota, and rarely even ventures beyond the sleepy hamlet of Brown Valley, where he’s lived his entire life. At the beginning of the film, Tim’s narrow view of the world is on the verge of being rocked. He starts his first sexual relationship with—get this—one of his former middle school teachers, Marcy Vanderhei (Sigourney Weaver), and though she’s just a recent divorcee-cum-cougar looking for a casual fling, Tim thinks he’s finally found true love. (We realize exactly how naïve he is when he presents her with a “promise” ring, a token that they’re engaged to be engaged.) A bigger shock is when Tim’s idol, Roger—a supposedly clean-cut fellow agent at the hilariously named BrownStar Insurance office—dies in a freak auto-erotic asphyxiation accident. With Roger permanently out of commission, Tim is asked to attend the ASMI insurance broker convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where pious industry bigwig Orin Helgesson presents the coveted “Two Diamond” award each year to whichever agency best demonstrates a “commitment to community, country, and God.” (Yes, there’s a bit of satire here about about conservative Midwestern jingoism and religious hypocrisy.) Tim’s boss gives him two directives: 1.) Bring home the trophy, and 2.) stay as far away as possible from the bad influence of Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), a foul-mouthed good-time-Charlie party boy and client poacher.

Of course—of course—Tim ends up being roommates with Ziegler, who begins their friendship by inviting Tim to the local sports bar, promising an “all-you-care-to-eat pussy buffet.” Ziegler is an easy read—he’s divorced, bitter about being divorced, and seemingly unaware of why he’s divorced—and beneath his life-of-the-party exterior is a sad clown of a man who just wants to be liked. John C. Reilly is perfect in these kinds of roles; he might be the only actor in Hollywood who can manage to be filthily crass and lovably vulnerable at the same time. When he gets to let loose and improvise—and his best lines are unfit to print here, unfortunately—Cedar Rapids is at its best.

Also sharing their hotel room is Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), an ambiguously maybe-gay insurance agent who likes community theater and antiquing, and who does a mean impersonation of gangster Omar Little from HBO’s The Wire. (The joke here is that Isiah Whitlock Jr. was actually on The Wire; he played Clay Davis, the corrupt senator known for the distinctly prolonged way he pronounced “shit” whenever expressing incredulity.) The three men pal around with Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche)—or, O-Fox, as they call her—a foxy female agent who sees the convention as “a little vacation from who she really is,” namely, a wife and mother of three. Obviously, between Ziegler’s horn-dogging and O- Fox’s flirty come-ons, the sweater vest-wearing Lippe is going to find his innocence tested. And I haven’t even mentioned Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat, who plays a friendly prostitute who introduces Lippe to crack cocaine, amongst other illicit activities.

While there are quite a few scenes that fall flat, this is a mostly effective comedy in the Mike Judge/Judd Apatow mold, one that undercuts its more vulgar elements with likeable characters and a soft-peddled moral message about growing up without selling your soul or convictions. The plot really takes off when Lippe discovers the straight-laced Orin has been accepting bribes for the “Two Diamonds” award, and Tim is put in a position where he has to choose between being a sham success or a loser who’s at least true to himself. We’ve all been there, and that’s what makes Cedar Rapids so relatable. Director Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt) and screenwriter Phil Johnston poke fun at Tim’s golly-gee-whiz naivety and simultaneous fear/awe of the world at large—“There’s an Afro-American man in my room,” Tim whispers to Marcy on the phone, mildly terrified when he first spots Ronald—but they’re never condescending toward him or any of the other characters. What they absolutely nail is the hokey, faux-motivational (fauxtivational?) atmosphere of corporate conventions, where the participants are forced to play silly games—wait until you see the “ASMI-azing Race”—and fraternize during conference room meet-n-greet sessions. Of course, everyone really wants to just get drunk, get laid, and par-tay. We half expect to see Helms’ Office boss, Michael Scott, in a nearby room with the door open, mixing cocktails for no one while a strobe light flashes to the rhythm of “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cedar Rapids was shot digitally, using an Arriflex D-21 camera, but you could easily mistake the footage for having been shot on film. I mean that, of course, in a good way. The 1080p/AVC-encoded image is rich and warm, almost looking like a very fine-grained 35mm picture. Even in darker scenes—like the party at the meth house—the image is nearly noiseless. Clarity is excellent throughout. The fine lines of John C. Reilly's sad-clown face are clearly delineated, clothing textures are finely resolved—see Ed Helms' sleeveless V-neck sweater—and in-focus objects have a crisp look without seeming overly edgy. Unlike the flat, excessively bright cinematography favored by a lot of big budget comedies, Cedar Rapids has a moodier and slightly stylized appearance, with a warm cast coloring most of the film. Vivid colors are kept to a minimum—this story appropriately employs a palette made up largely of browns—but neutrals are dense and skin tones are consistently natural. Black levels seem somewhat raised at times, but this seems like an intentional effort to preserve more shadow detail. Overall, I think the picture looks great—sharp, saturated, and with no compression problems or encode issues.

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like most comedies, Cedar Rapids' sound design isn't particularly intense or involving, but there's no real fault to be found in the movie's DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. While this is a front-heavy, dialogue-driven experience though and through, the mix gets all the essentials right. Voices are clean and comprehensible throughout—with no muffling, lowness, or crackling—and soundtrack has lots of punch. Christophe Beck's score is a bit dippy and all-too-typical, but it sounds good, and the various incidental pop/rock tunes have plenty of range and presence. The music often shows up in the rear channels, but otherwise the surround speakers are really only used for quiet ambience, like chatter in the "Horizons" bar. I can only remember one distinct cross-channel movement—a whiplash pan effect of a car zooming from left to right after Lippe takes a hit from a crack pipe. There's nothing particularly remarkable about this track, but it supports the film well, with no obvious audio slipups. The disc includes optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles in easy to read white lettering.

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 7:19): Includes six short deleted scenes.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 4:17): I'm always down for any gag reel featuring John C. Reilly.
• Convention Connection (1080p, 13:19): A collection of interviews with the films stars.
• Mike O'Malley - Urban Clogger (1080p, 2:55): A behind the scenes look at Mike O'Malley learning how to "clog," the Gaelic precursor to tap dancing.
• Tweaking in the USA (1080p, 6:13): A featurette about the filming of the "drug house" scene.
• Wedding Belles - Crashing a Lesbian Wedding (1080p, 4:16): Likewise, a short piece about the shooting of the lesbian dance party. Did I not mention in the review that there's a lesbian dance party?
• Top Notch Commercial (1080i, 1:16): A fake insurance commercial about a bow-hunting accident, clearly shot on VHS.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:27)
• Fox Movie Channel Presents - Direct Effect Miguel Arteta (SD, 6:37): An interview with the director, who talks about his approach to the material.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents - Writer's Draft Phil Johnson (SD: 6:48): Johnson discusses the real-life inspirations for the film's script.
• BD-Live Exclusive: Ed Helm's Mad Chopper Skills (720p, 2:26): Watch Ed Helms flying his remote control helicopter between takes.

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cedar Rapids isn't quite as funny as it could've been—or as funny as its trailer would lead you to believe—but it definitely has its moments, thanks mostly to the almost always hilarious John C. Reilly, who plays an utterly repellent, foul-mouthed character who turns out to be a big softie. Mixed in with the laughs is a message about staying true to your convictions and not selling your soul for corporate success, a moral the film handles deftly, even if the plot plays out exactly like you'd expect. Fox's Blu-ray looks great, sounds good, and comes with some entertaining special features, so if you're interested, I see no reason not to pick Cedar Rapids up. Recommended.