Cedar Rapids

You know who I love? Ed Helms. Seriously. Most of the correspondants from "The Daily Show" that have gone on to be in TV and movies are pretty awesome, but I think Ed Helms is up there as my favourite. Both as the co-worker you can't quite hate on 'The Office' and the dentist who pulls out his own tooth in 'The Hangover' he's just got something that makes you want to like him. And with 'Cedar Rapids' that like has definitely turned into love.

Helms stars in this Sundance flick, as Tim Lippe, a small town insurance salesman who has to attend the annual insurance conference in Cedar Rapids after his coworker 'accidentally' dies during some auto-erotic asphyxiation...sounds like a festival flick already, right?

Tim Lippe has never left Brown Valley and literally knows everyone in his small town. To say he's naive is a bit of an understatement. He's never flown before, he's never stayed in a hotel, he's never left Brown Valley. When he gets to the airport to go through security to fly up to the conference he greets the guard by name and laughs at the suggestion that they need to go through the rigamarole that we're all used to when flying. He genuinely says 'But, it's me.' Something I think we all wish we could say at an airport, although none of us do for fears of the ever dreaded full pat down.

One of my favourite moments comes when he goes to pick up his rental car and discovers it's a cherry red Chevy Cobalt, he's so excited, like he's never seen a nicer car in his entire life. [ps: I drive a Cobalt, it's blue and is named Ripper, which is neither here nor there, but it is pretty sweet] Everything is novel for sweet, small-town Tim, from the junior suite in his hotel that smells like chlorine [YAY!] to the nice young lady he first meets outside of the hotel and then meets again when she's leaving a fellow conventioneer's hotel room...

Tim's goal for the convention is to bring home the ever coveted double diamond award to his insurance company, something they've won for the past few years in a row. However, he's soon distracted from his goal after meeting veteran convention go-ers Dean Ziegler [John C. Reilly], Ronald Wilkes [Isiah Whitlock Jr.] and Joan Ostrowski-Fox [Anne Heche]. They push his boundaries and show Tim that there is a lot more to this insurance convention than the double diamond award, forcing him to do some soul-searching about the profession that he genuinely loves.

Insurance isn't really that interesting a thing to me. I have some, sure, but that's 'cause I have to. When Tim talks about insurance you can tell that he really wants to help the people that he insures. He takes the example of when the river in Cedar Rapids flooded a few years before. While it's true that the fire fighters and emergency personnel were the folks on the news, getting all the coverage, putting up sandbags and the like. But afterwards, when all the news cameras had gone, it was the insurance people who were there, helping people get their lives back. Joan calls him 'Insurance Man', and with convictions like that, he kind of is.

The whole supporting cast were fantastic, Reilly, Whitlock Jr and Heche are a lovable bunch of misfits that Helms fits right in with. And despite the fact that all the movies I've seen lately have been filled with great actors, I really feel that 'Cedar Rapids' had the best ensemble of all of them. It's great when you can see a cast that just gels and compliment each other's performances perfectly.

'Cedar Rapids' is a sweet, genuine movie that fits nicely into the coming-of-age archetype, albeit for thirtysomething, which makes it surprisingly refreshing. One last thing, if any of the rest of this hasn't convinced you that this is something that you might want to see, let me add one last thing, Ed Helms sings a rendition of 'O Holy Night' with insurance words instead of Christmas ones. RIGHT?!?! If that doesn't entice you I don't know what will!

Also, I'm aware that it's Thursday, not Monday. And I've been a little late the last few weeks, but I hope to make it up with a Sunday post wrapping up my Oscar thoughts. That's right, the Oscars are on Sunday, the most ridiculously over hyped awards show of the awards show season...but it's also my favourite and I haven't missed it in years! Any predictions? Feel free to throw them in the comments section. I'll post my official picks before the ceremony starts! Till Sunday! BYEEEEE!