Cedar Rapids a wild insurance nightmare ride

The pre-stage is set; I have my chips, my note pad, my Sweet Tea MiO Water. I hunkered down to watch Cedar Rapids. Rapids which from ariel view looked like Ontario Canada, for this movie I will term it the Insurance Salesman’s Las Vegas. The story revolves around Tim played by Ed Helms. Upon first meeting Tim you get the impression of Stew from the beginning of Hangover 2, a cautious person who holds in his inner party animal. Is it just me or does Ed Helms tend to play the same character over and over? But we quickly find out that the reason why Tim is so uptight is because he used to a sheltered small town life. The only wild thing he does is his former High School Teacher (Sigourney Weaver) and by does I mean bed relations.

Tim is an insurance salesman for a reputable company that has dealt with the members of the town of Brown Valley for over twenty five years. Tim’s boss the man who had been going to the ASMI convention for the company for the past three years passed away just days before the convention and Tim is selected to go because the new boss has to go to his daughter’s wedding. Prior to the convention Tim’s world view of Insurance Salesmen is people who save lives and act as soldiers who man the trenches when disasters happen.

Enter John C. Riley who plays Dean, the “poacher” as Tim’s boss Bill calls him. Throughout the course of the movie, Dean increasingly becomes a ray of hope to break Tim out of his small town shell. Introduce him to the wild world around him, and give him a good grounding when the stuff hits the fan. In the course of four days Tim has gained a new best friend in Dean. While appearing brash and obnoxious Dean shows that he has a tender side that he rarely shows and we find that he is a more complex character then we give him credit for.

The convention itself seems way more fun than I could ever imagine an Insurance Convention to be. Events like scavenger hunt called the ASMI-Mazing Race, Karaoke, and Jack Nicholson Stand Up. It just seems like a convention about insurance would be more subdued. But I am not one to talk, The DECA state trip was pretty off the hook the two years I went.

My final thoughts for this movie, the writing was believable, the casting was excellent, the pacing on spot. Overall this is a very well put together movie with lots of merits and few short comings. The predictable story plot line was like having a map drawn out for you where the story was going to go. While it had good writing and a fun story to follow, it just seems like writers these days to afraid to stray from the cliché. Hangover this movie is not, but it is still a fun ride. I suggest you give this movie a rent and have some fun. Seven out of ten on a scale from one to ten.