Bienvenue à Cedar Rapids

Expected to kill 90 minutes and probably not even finish watching 'Cedar Rapids', BUT Ed Helms led the highly capable ensemble cast of John Reilly, Signory Weaver, Isiah Whitlock, and Anne Heche down the rabbit hole to his world of dweeb awkwardness, and the result is a satisfyingly sweet little guy wins comedy. Well written and paced.

Recommended viewing when you think there is no comedy you haven't seen before that would be a deemed worthy of your time. Earns my Two Diamond Award for being such a nice surprise.

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Deciding to watch this was totally based on the IMDb reviews so I wasn't sure what to expect. Happily after watching this twice in a few days I can say it really hit the spot.

Not being a huge fan of any of the leads and not having seen anything of Ed Helms prior I was not expecting anything brilliant here, but I really enjoyed this both times watching. I would regard this as a feel good comedy rather than a straight out comedy. Some of the humour would not be appreciated by everyone and will probably be regarded as quite silly, but I think it suited the movie.

John C. Reilly's movies can be a bit hit and miss, as his humour tends toward toilet humour in many cases and if you are not into that it can be a bit of a turn off. While some of the humour is a bit lowbrow, if you can get over that you will enjoy this movie.

I gave it a 7 out of 10 and will be watching it again.

This is a purely nice and even heartwarming comedy. Sure, most the characters are one dimensional presentations but somehow the movie connects just enough to make it worth while. There are no real side splitting laughs. In fact, I would barely call this a comedy at all if not for the efforts of John C. Reilly. He absolutely steals the show. His work may not be classified as side splitting but it comes really really close. We've all seen it before but not without Will Ferrell to partner up with and bounce ideas off. Reilly proves he needs no one else to be funny. Still, this is a human interest story plain and very simple. Note: Anne Heche has still got it and was MILFing up the screen at every turn. What a wonderful woman.

My first 2011 film. It's a pretty unambitious comedy, but it survives because of a fantastic cast. Too fantastic, really. I have to wonder what drew them to this rather middling material. Ed Helms (of The Office and The Daily Show) stars as a sheltered insurance salesman from a small town in northern Wisconsin who is drafted by his boss (Stephen Root) to go to an insurance conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He's pretty inexperienced with life outside his own little bubble, and he gets led astray by troublemaker John C. Reilly. The film also co-stars Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. (who co-starred in HBO's The Wire, a series for which the character espouses a lot of love), Anne Heche (extremely good - probably the only good thing I've ever seen her done), Sigourney Weaver, Alia Shawkat (of the TV series (not the rap group) Arrested Development) and Kurtwood Smith (of That 70s Show and RoboCop). I wanted to see this one because of its Midwestern setting. Part of me was afraid that it would be Hollywood making fun of Midwesterners, but it's pretty gentle. Helms may play a sheltered small-town guy, but it's just him (Reilly's character is from Steven's Point, WI, and he's not a rube; he is a drunk, though). The film actually has a lot of affection for the Midwest, and it has a lot of heart.

I have to admit that when I saw the poster for this, I thought it looked lame. I then checked out IMDb and saw it had 7.2. I still wasn't convinced. I then only watched it because it was the only film on at the time I wanted to go out. And I'm glad I did. This film is gem - a mix between an indie film, dark comedy and farce. It kind of reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite but not as quirky. This film is funny and really enjoyable on so many levels. The cast is perfect - all performing above and beyond. John C Reilly is a legend in this film and just about steals the show from Ed Helms. I suggest you go watch this film expecting very little and you'll come away feeling like you've just been given a free gift, unlike most films which rob you!