I am not a huge fan of the recently popular comedies.  Maybe I’ve become too old and grumpy, or perhaps I need films to be more character-driven.  But take a random comedy at the top of the box office charts, and odds are I’m not interested in going to see it.

So given that, I can’t fully explain why we decided to go see Cedar Rapids.  I saw the preview in the theater, and it seemed to have a bit more intelligence than your random comedy.  It wasn’t as dark as I might have liked, but the lead character of Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) appeared to have found a perfect middle ground between innocence and idealism in his role as an insurance salesman who is selected as a fill in to attend a major annual conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa…one where his firm has won the national award two years in a row.

Tim is a generally quiet, honest, and completely inexperienced guy.  He’s never flown before, never been to a convention before, and barely ever been out of his hometown before.  He has spent years dillegently working at a regional insurance company, putting the needs of his customers ahead of anything else.  Consequently, he has never been the top banana at his firm, but has a terrific reputation from his loyal clients.

Once at the convention, Tim finds himself rooming with veteran agent Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) – an arrangement set up by his boss, who considers Wilkes to be a good influence.  Unfortunately, Wilkes has decided to save money on expenses by bringing another agent into the room: Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), a loudmouthed, obnoxious type who Tim has been warned to stay away from at all costs by his boss (Stephen Root).

Tim soon meets a third veteran agent, Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), and after a while decides his opinions about Ziegler don’t match those of his boss.  He also begins to socialize, developing more of an outgoing personality.  As you’d expect, he finds himself in various comic situations, but it is the moral dilemmas that go along with them that add the backbone to the story.  One by one many of his illusions about life, the world, his coworkers, and the industry are shattered – or at least reshaped.

Ed Helms could have played Tim as dumber, or simply clueless.  Instead, he builds a respectful innocence, one that includes a real pride in being an insurance agent.  At one point in the film, he gives Joan a little speech about the time Cedar Rapids flooded, and how insurance agents were there to help people, to assist in their attempts to rebuild their lives.  “Wow,” she replies, “you almost make it sound cool to be an insurance agent.”

A few people I’ve talked to that *do* love the popular comedy films of recent years saw Cedar Rapids and loved it as well, so I don’t think it falls outside of the mainstream.  If you want some laughs - including a few inside jokes about Isiah Whitlock Junior’s role on The Wire (a show I’ve never seen) which I would not have gotten the full effect of if I hadn’t heard something about them beforehand – find Cedar Rapids and give it a try.  It’s doing okay at the box office, but not gangbusters, so I don’t know how long it’ll be out there.  If you miss it, it should be enjoyable on DVD too.