When a naive, small-town insurance agent named Tim Lippe (Ed Helms,The Hangover)  goes to a convention in the big city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, his life  gets turned inside out under the influence of three convention veterans.  This sort of fish-out-of-water comedy could have been a flimsy excuse  for broad slapstick and absurd high jinks; instead, in the confident  hands of director Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Chuck & Buck),Cedar Rapidsbecomes something more humane and, in a quiet way, more ambitious.  Helms manages to make Tim genuine, a man-child but not a cartoon; the  movie's situations skirt wackiness, yet always remain in the realm of  something emotionally real. (The movie also reflects the influence of  producers Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, who created the similarly  character-rich moviesSideways, Almost Schmidt,andElection.) The whole cast hits the right notes, from such familiar faces as John C. Reilly (Magnolia, Talladega Nights), Anne Heche, and Sigourney Weaver to such stealthy character actors as Stephen Root (NewsRadio), Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire), and Alia Shawkat(Arrested Development).Cedar Rapidsis sweet without being cloying, funny without being manic, and even a  little sad at times, without ever turning up the violins on the  soundtrack. It's an honest movie, and there are all too few of them out  there. --Bret Fetzer