It’s rude, crude, tasteless and vulgar. It’s also funny, even hilarious if you like rude, crude, tasteless and vulgar humor.
“Cedar Rapids,” opening today, brings back memories of the films of people like Preston Sturges, though the language has progressed (or regressed?) nearly70 years. Despite that, and its often-casual attitude toward sexual fidelity, director Miguel Arteta has put together a movie with an optimistic ending and considerable sensitivity toward people who act like real people, with all their attendant problems and changes. I enjoyed it.
Ed Helms, one of the bachelor-party buddies of “Hangover,” and a regular on “The Office,” on television, is a sheer delight as Tim Lippe, a 34-year-old insurance salesman from Brown Valley, Wis. One of his parents died when he was a baby, the other when he was in high school, but others have provided a wide range of security. Bill Krogstad (a terrific Stephen Root) has provided work and some father-style guidance, and Macy Vanderhei (nifty work from Sigourney Weaver), his seventh-grade teacher, has guided him down the Primrose Path to sexual awareness. Tim says they’re “pre-engaged,” but she isn’t having any. The relationship she has is exactly the one she wants.
Tim is sent to a regional insurance convention in the movie’s tittle town, told by Krogstad that he is to bring back “the coveted two-diamond award” for the agency, and also to avoid Dean Ziegler, who will poach his clients while leading him astray. Tim takes his first airplane ride, then meets Bree, his first play-for-pay girl (the eminently delightful dumpling, Alia Shawkat), as he enters the hotel. He thinks she represents the Welcome Wagon. In the room, he discovers he’s sharing it with an African-American, Ron (Isiah Whitlock Jr., a perfect straight man by several definitions) and, of course, Dean Ziegler (the scenery-chewing, scene-stealing John C. Reilly).
They try to teach him to drink, getting as far as cream sherry, and then he meets Joan Ostrowski-Fox (a remarkable Anne Heche), who is an ardent believer in the theory that what happens in Cedar Rapids remains in Cedar Rapids.
But Phil Johnston’s screenplay is not all about sex, drinking and the hotel swimming pool (“I think I’m in Barbados,” yells Tim as he gets a big whiff of chlorine). Johnston and director Arteta get serious and develop conscience and courage for Tim and Dean. Both stand up for what is right, even while Dean continues his career run toward the Debauchery Hall of Fame, and holds the door open for Tim.
Of course, in a salute to Iowa for its progressive social stance, there’s a gay wedding at the hotel, and that scene may be a thank-you to the state for its steps away from hypocrisy and toward real freedom for all. Given Hollywood reasoning, look to our neighbor to the north to pick up more movie income for that reason.
Cedar Rapids opens today
—Joe