Cedar Rapids Blu-ray review

            Everything from the plot to the cover art of Cedar Rapids seems blatantly stolen from The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which coincidentally starred Ed Helms’ former television co-star Steve Carell. Both films are about unbelievably naïve and straight-laced middle-aged men, and both rely heavily on the companionship of new friends to show the way. The trouble with Cedar Rapids is that it simply lacks the humorous situations and dialogue that The 40-Year-Old Virgin had. Although the cast is good, there is far less to be done for laughs here, making Cedar Rapids only mildly amusing.

             Helms stars as Tim Lippe, an underachieving insurance agent for a small company in a small town. Lippe knows everybody in town, but has never been anywhere else. When an accidental death of a colleague threatens to tarnish the name of the small agency, Lippe is sent to a convention in Cedar Rapids. To Tim, this is the bog city, and it provides opportunities that he never thought possible. At first this is something that doesn’t seem to appeal to him, but as the truth comes about the people he admires, Lippe allows himself to slip.Rooming with the convention’s most notorious party animal (John C. Reilly), seduced by a soccer mom on a work vacation (Anne Heche), and befriended by a local prostitute, Lippe has many opportunities for new experiences in his trip out of town.

            The Blu-ray includes deleted scenes and a gag reel, which aren’t much funnier than the film. There are also a number of featurettes, covering everything from the drug use to the wedding crashing scene in the film. There is also a Fox Movie Channel special on the film. The Blu-ray package also comes with a digital copy.