CEDAR RAPIDS Trailer Is Hardly Super Awesome

By Matt Holmes /

Fox Searchlight have released the first trailer for Cedar Rapids, an outrageous salesman comedy from Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt) that stars The Office's Ed Helms in his first lead movie role. Out of the many screenplays offered to him post-The Hangover, this is the one he chose as his shot at the big time and it will debut at Sundance next month. Helms stars as a dull insurance sales guy who travels outside of his state for the first time in his life to an annual big-city convention at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here's there to help save the jobs of his recession-hit colleagues by representing his company. There he meets con vets John C. Reilly (who I'm wondering... how much comedy mileage has he really got left?), Anne Heche (didn't recognise her) and the guy from HBO's The Wire (as he tells us) Isiah Whitlock Jr who all loosen up the usually stiff Helms, and show him how to party!Apple's got it in HD here. Rob Corddry (wearing the same jacket from Hot Tub Time Machine??) and Sigourney Weaver also appear. The movie opens February 11th, 2011. I laughed a few times but shook my head way more. Kind of like my reaction to the whole of Arteta's last movie Youth in Revolt, actually. Looks like a good vehicle for Isiah Whitlock though... give that dude his own movie. And is it just me, or does anyone else miss the days when John C. Reilly did serious movies?