Cedar Rapids is quite simply one of the most delightful cinematic experiences I have had in a long time. Director Miguel Arteta has managed to create a spellbinding and comically charged picture, without focusing on slapstick, and understanding that laughs come from the characters. Infusing a quirky script with pitch-perfect direction, Arteta should be recognized for his ingenious comedic work here. Even though, this is an independent picture, Cedar Rapids deserves a mass audience.

The film stars Ed Helms whose work is most recognizable in the hit TV program The Office and playing the conservative and uptight friend in The Hangover. One of the things that make the film so refreshing is having a commonly supporting man playing the lead and Helms knocks it out of the park. He plays Tim Lippe, a kind, dorky insurance agent from small town Brown Valley, Wisconsin. However when a colleague commits a suicide while orchestrating one of his sexual fetishes, Tim is asked to head up to Cedar Rapids to represent his company at the annual insurance convention.

Another refreshing anecdote is that Tim is a nerd. But not the one we commonly associate with. He doesn’t read comic books or spend countless hours in front of the video-game system, even worse he becomes emotionally attached to any women he has sexual interaction with (in this case Sigourney Weaver). These are the kind of people we can relate to, you probably have someone in your own family who may be like this. There’s nothing wrong with them, they are perfectly nice but there is something just a little bit off.

Once Tim embarks on his journey, he meets some people who rattle up his conservative and overbearing views. Those three characters certainly come in a comically equipped fashion. We first meet Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), a fellow insurance man who is one the kindest people you will meet. Then we meet Dean Ziegler (not to be confused with Dirk Diggler, anyone reference?) played by the hilarious John C. Reilly. Ziegler is a proactive and party-crazed insurance man that’s just there to get his drink on. And lastly we meet Joan “O” Fox (Anna Heche), a beautiful woman whose goal is to escape the limitations and boring lifestyle she must endure back home.

As the gang of four starts to bond, the film moves from merely good, to great. Cedar Rapids reminded me of a film like Sideways: both are sweet, tender pictures with a dirty mind that also contain an ample amount of humanity. While Arteta’s film transcends into some darker places, we start to sympathize and care for these lovable human beings. These aren’t characters, in the respect that we don’t believe them. Tim, Isiah, Dean, and Joan are all real people, with some real problems. Not for a second does the film feel contrived, because everything is so genuine, so delightfully realistic.

We head into the back half of Cedar Rapids hoping it can equalize with the film thus far. But it doesn’t. It resolves and becomes better and sweeter. Tim learns some life lessons, has some sexual interaction, and gets involved with some people while being high on coke and a hooker. All of this from a man who’s never left Brown Valley, Wisconsin. Cedar Rapids, for Tim, is like Las Vegas, except without all the money and the awful air quality.

The performances are the driving force of this picture. Whitlock does a brilliant job, infusing comedy with his shy, relaxed personality. Anna Heche is playing a rendition of her character on Hung, except this time she’s finally letting herself give into her sexual desires. John C. Reilly is as always, great. Sure, he’s playing the stereotypical character, but he does it exceedingly well. But, we know that without the charismatic and approachable Ed Helms, Cedar Rapids, would read and play as folly. Helms is so endearing in his role that he makes the film almost impossible to dislike. For everyone who thought that he wouldn’t be interesting to watch on screen as a full-length picture, well, this one disproves that notion.

Before I make the film sound perfect, I should say that it does have a few flaws. For one, the picture starts off relatively slow, which had me worried that the rest of the picture wouldn’t be good. I was obviously wrong. Reilly, although I enjoyed most of his comedic bits, sometimes overplays his character. And lastly the picture takes maybe one detour too many in its third act, still there’s no denying the sheer strengths of the film.

Miguel Arteta (director) takes the “fish-out-of-water” genre and harnesses the theme into its own: creating new life and energy to the screen, one scene at a time. Sometimes, films like this one have trouble finding meaning or purpose. However, this isn’t a problem in this movie. Throughout Tim’s life he has been pushed around, practically having no voice of his own. The film settles and gathers into the realization that Tim, at last, has found his purpose and understands how to think for himself. Isn’t it great that once the subject settles in, it instantly makes you smile?

Cedar Rapids is the kind of comedy I enjoy the most. It won’t have you laughing out loud throughout (though there are time in which it does), but merely consistently smiling, feeling good about where you are and what you are watching. It i s a tour de force in its endeavor to blend crude humor, with lovable, often angelic characters. In its modesty comes laughter, from its screenplay comes endearment, and from its final product comes a winning picture.

A-

Notes: Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and drug use, 87 minutes.

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