Originally, Cedar Rapids was intended to be filmed in Cedar Rapids, but Iowa's film tax credit program faced some issues after it was abused and the money could no longer be awarded for filming in Iowa. But that wasn't before the film had already been titled. So we get a little fame out of it. Also, there were quite a few exterior shots of Cedar Rapids, and they even had a heartfelt little scene involving the flood of 2008. I think Quaker Oats probably took most of the glory in Cedar Rapids, and the scenes looked extremely fake when they through in the Cedar Rapids skyline so close to a little swing set. But what really excites me about Cedar Rapids is the conversations it's going to spark for me. Picture this, I'm at college in some other state and people will ask me, "Where are you from?", I'll respond with, "Cedar Rapids", and they'll say, "Wow, I saw that movie. That's so cool. You're so cool." At least that's how I imagine this conversation going. Finally my Iowa background is giving me some positive feedback.
The film did portray Cedar Rapids in a bit of a negative light at some points. Helms was from small down Indiana or something like that, and he made Cedar Rapids out to be some huge city, which it clearly isn't. Another character said something along the lines of "This is Cedar Rapids. What I do here stays here." It sounded a little bit like Las Vegas, but still, pretty cool. There was a scene where Helms went to a party with a prostitute and it was at this really sketchy house in the middle of no where that was missing bits of walls. They did meth together and Helms got in a fight. This isn't quite the typical Cedar Rapids, but publicity is publicity I guess.
Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett and City Manager Jeff Pomeranz flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the premiere of the movie to represent Cedar Rapids. They expect the movie to do good things for the city even though it wasn't actually filmed here. Simply having Cedar Rapids on Marquees across the country is good advertisement. Maybe someone will even make a vacation out of coming to Cedar Rapids. You can view the whole KWWL story here.
Cedar Rapids is a bit of an Indie film, making it to theaters around the country because of its popularity at the Sundance Film Festival. It got very good ratings overall, moving it on to a more national scale.
The targeted audience of Cedar Rapids is likely similar to that of The Hangover and Step Brothers. The humor is a little juvenile, but I still thought it was hilarious. It also is rated R, keeping the younger crowd out. Usually movies like this don't attract an older crowd, but that's very different in Cedar Rapids (the city, this is getting a little confusing). When I saw it the theater was packed with old people, but that might have been because I saw it at 4:20. And they all seemed to enjoy the film, which is good for them. They didn't even seem upset by the drug and prostitution scenes. Good for them. Cedar Rapids will probably get a lot of cash from us natives, we all just want to see our city gain a little fame. And doesn't everyone.
This wasn't our first taste of the big screen though. The horror movie The Crazies featured Cedar Rapids as a type of safe haven from all the murderous, zombie type. Bruce Aune, our news anchor for KCRG even got a small part in the end of the movie, but that's nothing compared to our newest claim to fame. Cedar Rapids is much bigger and focuses mainly on our city instead of creepy small town farming Iowa. We get a lot more out of this one, and it's a much better movie. The Crazies was kind of stupid.
Cedar Rapids makes me optimistic that if my average sized city in Eastern Iowa can draw in a little fame of it's own, we all have a little bit of hope.
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