Judging by the date of my last post, I may have made a few promises that went unkept.
Dear reader, you deserve better! I will humbly admit that ever since starting my new internship I've barely had time to do anything other than work and practice with my band on the weekends. I also had a revelation that I subsist on way too much canned chili and frozen pizza. The lazy diet might have had an impact on my motivation.
A little earlier this evening I had the great pleasure of seeing Cedar Rapids. It's a new comedy starring Ed Helms, John C Reilly, and the gorgeous Anne Heche. The movie had superb writing and there are some seriously funny moments. Fan of that awkward style of humor often seen in shows like "The Office"? There's plenty of moments in this film just like that.
Plot wise, it's pretty simple. Ed Helms character, Tim Lippe, is an insurance salesman. He lives in a tiny midwestern town where everyone knows everything about each other, and is traveling for the first time ever to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for an annual awards convention related to his job. Tim's character makes mistakes, gets in weird situations, screws up, but does the right thing in the end. BAM. It's that kind of story.
You know what though? It works. Brilliantly. Reason being, I love the fact that the Tim Lippe character is basically a recluse who has never seen the world beyond his sleepy town. Lippe also has the misfortune of being completely oblivious to common sense (I hate to reference "The Office" again, but it's similar to the Michael Scott character.)
Everything he experiences at the convention is cool and new and exciting to him. Like when a kid tells you something mundane that he's excited about, and you oh-so-badly want to shout "COOL STORY, BRO!" in his face, but you don't, 'cuz it's a kid. That's how I'd describe it. A lot of the humor in the movie is at Lippe's expense, and despite being a lower budget film, there are some great gags that left me either laughing out loud or laughing because of how intentionally stupid a certain line was. There's not too much nudity or shock value here. It is an R rated comedy though, which means there IS going to be some nasty male ass at some point during the film.
John C Reilly and Isiah Whitlock Jr steal the show as Lippe's fellow insurance pals. Reilly is loud, obnoxious, and basically like an overgrown frat brother who always has something retarded to say that ends up being hilarious. Whitlock is the straight shooter, much like Lippe. Except personality wise, he's an Oreo. You have to ask yourself though, when was the last time you saw a Black insurance salesman who didn't fit that description perfectly. Yeah? Yeah.
I mustn't forget Anne Heche, though! Her character, Joan, helps Lippe to realize that nobody's perfect, and even the happiest people have flaws. She's cocky, flirty, able to be "one of the boys", and still give off a sexy vibe. And yet she manages to be caring when needed to as well. Like a jack of all trades. That is incredibly hot, if you ask me. So, let's end this review on that note. Anne Heche. Mmm. Go see Cedar Rapids!
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