2011 Movie Reviews

Mini Review: Cedar Rapids

Evan Crean

Cedar Rapids Blu-ray Art
Cedar Rapids © 2011 Fox and its related entities. All rights reserved

I thoroughly enjoyed the Ed Helms comedy “Cedar Rapids.”  Helms stars as Tim Lippe, a small-town Wisconsin guy who’s dispatched to an insurance seminar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  The naïve Lippe is shocked when he arrives at the conference, where three of the wildest attendees Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), and Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) befriend him and take him under their wing.

It’s hilarious to watch the adventure enlighten the emotionally immature Lippe, who undergoes a mid-life coming of age.  Ed Helms is spot on as Lippe, dorky and believably inexperienced in the ways of the world.  His friends are incredibly genuine and funny, but you’ll probably find yourself laughing the most at John C. Reilly’s blowhard Dean “Deansy” Ziegler.

My Grade: B+

Evan Crean

Hello! My name is Evan Crean. By day I work for a marketing agency, but by night, I’m a film critic based in Boston, MA. Since 2009, I have written hundreds of movie reviews and celebrity interviews for Starpulse.com. I have also contributed pieces to NewEnglandFilm.com and to The Independent, as a writer and editor. I maintain an active Letterboxd account too. In addition to publishing short form work, I am a co-author of the book Your ’80s Movie Guide to Better Living, which is available on CreateSpace and Amazon. The book is the first in a series of lighthearted self-help books for film fans, which distills advice from ’80s movies on how to tackle many of life’s challenges. On top of writing, I co-host and edit the weekly film podcast Spoilerpiece Theatre with two other Boston film critics. I’m a founding member and the current treasurer for the Boston Online Film Critics Association as well. This site, Reel Recon.com, is a one-stop-shop where you can find links to all of my past and present work. Have any questions or comments after checking it out? Please feel free to email me (Evan Crean) at: ecrean AT reelrecon DOT COM .