Friday, May 13, 2011

THE GROWING PAINS OF AN INSURANCE MAN: a review of "Cedar Rapids"


“CEDAR RAPIDS”
Written by Phil Johnston
Directed by Miguel Arteta
***1/2 (three and a half stars)


I have to admit that I am a creature of habit. I am not one that particularly enjoys stepping outside of my personal comfort zones. I like my routines. I like the ways that I am able to navigate the city in which I live. I have my favorite haunts to frequent. I am actually a bit of a picky eater as well, so I feel more than happy just dining on the meals that have satisfied me tremendously at the restaurants I love, and if I find a truly favored selection, I’ll tend to stick with it and not focus on terribly much else from the menu. I enjoy seeing familiar people in familiar places so much that any changes do tend to unnerve me to varying degrees. For so much of my life, people have always expressed to me that “change is good.” But as far as I am concerned, it truly depends on who is precipitating the change. Now, just so you do not all feel that I am a stick in the mud at best and completely inflexible at worst, trust me, I do know, understand and accept that change is part of life and living and the development we all experience. Sometimes, I truly embrace it. But I guess that when I understand and know what I am going to experience, then why make a change? I like it how I like it when I like just because that’s the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like it.

I am giving you a peek into my particular brand of neuroses because I can kind of understand a man like Tim Lippe, the leading protagonist in Director Miguel Arteta’s charming, raunchy and perceptive social comedy “Cedar Rapids.” He is a man so ingrained with the routines, faces and places of his life that forced change would not only be a good experience for him. It is highly necessary.

Tim (played innocently by Ed Helms) is an idealistic and naive insurance agent in the small town of Brown River, WI. He adores his profession, his life in the only town he has ever lived as his clandestine “pre-engagement” relationship with Marcy Vanderhei (Sigourney Weaver), the schoolteacher he once had a lusty crush upon in Middle School. After his highly popular colleague perishes in what appears to be an act of erotic asphyxiation, Tim is called upon by his boss Bill Krogstad (Stephen Root), to represent their insurance company at the annual insurance convention in Cedar Rapids, IA and obtain the highly coveted Two Diamond award for the fourth consecutive year.

Like a baby bird forced to leave the nest, Tim nervously begins his journey into the world as he experiences his first airplane ride, his first visit to a hotel room, and even his first experience with an African-American in the form of Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), his hotel roommate, fellow insurance agent and huge fan of HBO’s “The Wire.” Soon after his arrival, Tim is befriended and enormously distracted by two more convention veterans; the comely Joan Ostrowski-Fox (a wonderful Anne Heche) and the outrageously lewd, crude and perpetually drunk Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), the very salesman Tim’s boss instructed him to avoid at all costs.

Through a series of convention events like an “Amazing Race” themed scavenger hunt and extracurricular activities with all manner of drinks, drugs and debauchery, Tim is confronted with the world outside of his fishbowl perceptions as his ideals and personal integrity are challenged at every step. It is a three day period of change he never anticipated but becomes the difficult, challenging, transitional time that he will never forget.

“Cedar Rapids” is a succulent comedic treat that easily puts to shame so many comedy films being released currently. There is just so much to adore about this little movie as it accomplishes all it sets out to do in a fashion that feels effortless. Arteta conducts the proceedings with a fresh and playful comedic tone that is established immediately and remains consistent throughout. The pace is appropriately energetic and never crashes into the types of conceptual speed traps that tend to derail most comedies, making for unfortunate lengthy periods of uncomfortable silences in the movie theater that the filmmakers never intended. Most of all and most importantly, Arteta understands that to make his comedy work at its finest is solely through story, characters and performances. With Phil Johnston’s excellent screenplay, two thirds of Arteta’s job have already been masterfully accomplished as the constantly crackling dialogue and character development elevates “Cedar Rapids” from simple jokes and gags into a real story about a man’s transformative period and the growing pains contained within.

I will admit that in the first moments of the film I was a tad worried that Ed Helms’ performance as Tim Lippe would be more of a caricature of a small town inhabitant rather than an actual character but he fully won me over shortly thereafter in a post-coital sequence with Sigourney Weaver's character of Marcy. As they lay in bed together cuddling, Tim confesses the lustful thoughts he carried for her during his pre-teen years. Afterwards, he asks if she carried any similar feelings for him all of those years ago, to which she glances at him sideways and dryly explains, “You were 12.” It was a cringe worthy moment, not for any inappropriateness but for the fact that Tim Lippe is so open hearted, so “heart on sleeve” as a romantic in his thoughts of love, as well as his worldview, that I just didn’t want to see this man get emotionally wounded. What is simply a tryst for Weaver’s character is a fully sweeping romantic love affair for Tim and that very divide between them also represented the divide between Tim's view of the world and how the world actually is.

Cedar Rapids, IA is the place where the real world and the world in Tim’s head and heart collide, with sometimes painful and often hysterical results. While we in the audience can laugh at the fact that Tim initially has absolutely no idea that Brie (Alia Shawkat), the sweet faced girl who daily stations herself outside of the hotel asking patrons for cigarettes is actually a prostitute, Arteta always and humanely makes certain that Tim is never the butt of the joke. In doing so, Arteta makes certain that the film is on Tim’s side, ensuring that the audience will root for him and his overall happiness.

That particular pursuit of happiness is nestled at the core of the film as “Cedar Rapids” has its characters ask hard questions of themselves concerning the respective trajectories of their lives. The film finds the time and opportunity to tap into a certain melancholy, which greatly enriched the proceedings as a whole by making these characters grounded in reality, especially when their antics grow more raucous.

John C. Reilly is terrifically boorish as Dean Ziegler as his endlessly loud chatter, peppered with one vulgar euphemism after another, is the film’s hilarious showstopper. His salesman character reminded me of the awkward, wayward social misfits played beautifully by John Candy in John Hughes’ “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987) and even John Goodman’s murderous traveling salesman in The Coen Brothers’ haunting “Barton Fink” (1991). What made Reilly’s character one to celebrate and follow was the undercurrent of this strange, rude and highly unsophisticated man. Through Arteta’s unforced cinematic hand, we are shown just enough of Dean Ziegler’s private hurt, making him someone we can understand and not simply to laugh at. We understand his constant status of inebriation and his need to be the life of the party. Most impressively, we see that Dean Ziegler is a man who is also remarkably self aware as well as surprisingly loyal. He is the person you most want to avoid but he is also the person you would most want to be in your corner.

For me, the standout performance in this film belonged to Anne Heche, who like Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air” (2009), created a realistic 21st century woman, the type of which is rarely on display in the movies. To me, her character of Joan Ostrowski-Fox was the most provocative of the film’s heroic quartet. She can easily keep comedic pace with the bad boys through her own rapidly uttered sexually themed comments. She possesses a dark allure that can spring from bewitching flirtatiousness to unbridled and unexpected carnality. Yet, Joan Ostrowski-Fox also carries a sweetness that enraptures Tim, as well as the audience. Again, Arteta realizes that he needs to keep the audience on her side and it would serve the film no purpose than to just have her function as a sexual object or as a potty mouth. So when she matter-of-factly reveals to Tim her own private dissatisfaction with her life and how that secret sadness contributes to her deeply rooted need to have her annual insurance retreat weekend, it informed all of her motivations so clearly and so truthfully that at times, I wanted to see an entire movie about her!

Anne Heche (who I must say has never been this fetchingly attractive in the movies thus far) completely captivated me with the richness she gave to Joan Ostrowski-Fox. If Tim Lippe was the heart of this film then Joan was the film’s sexy and sorrowful soul. I know it won’t happen but I sincerely wish for Heche to be remembered at Oscar time for her work in this film. She’s that good.

For many years, I have fretted about how strong films need to be released throughout the entire year and not just during the winter holiday/awards season. I have been so pleased with many of the 2011 releases I have seen this year and “Cedar Rapids” is another strong film to add to the list. With the onslaught of major summer releases beginning to stampede into or movie theaters, I urge you to seek this film out as well. It is funny, knowing, hugely entertaining and entirely successful without utilizing any gimmicks or high concepts to appeal to mass audiences. Just good old fashioned storytelling with strong characters and performances. I know that I have been expressing this sentiment for quite some time, but if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

And with all of this talk about forced change, I am defiantly proud to say that my personal habit of enjoying movies based on storytelling and characters is one that will never change.

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