Cedar Rapids Trailer: Ed Helms Gets Crazy at the Insurance Convention

It's the day before Christmas Eve, and if you're anything like me, you're probably wondering, "Hey! What will be the next quirky and still totally by-the-book comedy with an almost-famous cast to be marketed as an indie film, complete with a Sundance premiere?" Well, just in time for your consideration, here is the trailer for Cedar Rapids, in which Ed Helms plays a naive man who leaves his small town for the first time only to be schooled in the ways of getting drunk, screwing and fighting by the wacky John C. Reilly.

It looks fine, and it's nice to see Helms in a lead role, but as I watched this trailer, I had a hard time shaking the feeling that I'd be perfectly okay never seeing another just-offbeat-enough comedy like this again. It's one of those trailers where right after you've thought, "Oh cool, it's Isiah Whitlock Jr. from The Wire," Whitlock's character makes a joke about being a guy from The Wire. The fact that he jokes about being Omar does not make it any more clever or subtle.

The last few movies from the film's director, Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt, The Good Girl), have been fine too, but I'm still waiting for him to hit it out of the park again as he did with his debut Chuck and Buck. Judging from this trailer, I'll probably have to keep waiting. The biggest sign of hope? Alexander Payne produced the film, so there's still a chance that it will turn out to be a pleasant surprise.

Verdict: Pass for Now.