Insurance agents’ review: ‘Cedar Rapids’ twists conventional wisdom about industry
February 10th, 2011
Ever wonder what happens when a bunch of supposedly serious and straight-laced insurance salesmen get together? They try to combat corporate corruption and save their struggling insurance offices — and in the process get drunk and into a heap of trouble.
Well, at least that’s what the insurance salesmen in the new comedy “Cedar Rapids” do when they head to an annual insurance convention in the Hawkeye State. The movie debuts Feb. 11, 2011.
Real-life insurance professionals say the exploits in “Cedar Rapids” are pure fiction.
“It doesn’t resemble any industry meeting or conference I’ve ever attended,” says Clark Nalen, a former insurance underwriter and public adjuster in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “But comedies are supposed to make you laugh, not want to run out and buy insurance.”
“Cedar Rapids” depicts a group of insurance salesmen who use the Cedar Rapids gathering as an escape from their hum-drum lives.
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| Ed Helms stars as insurance agent Tim Lippe in the new comedic film “Cedar Rapids.” |
Tim Lippe, played by Ed Helms (”The Office,” “The Hangover”), has lived in a small Wisconsin town his whole life. From the minute the sheltered insurance agent checks into a hotel with his well-worn American Tourister luggage and his geeky money belt, it’s clear Lippe — the main character — is on the verge of an eye-opening experience courtesy of the “bustling” metropolis of Cedar Rapids.
Turns out Lippe was the guy people always thought would really go places, but he failed to live up to those expectations. He wound up settling into a career of selling life insurance.
The character’s innocence and small-town charm are initially annoying, but eventually endear Lippe to his fellow conventioneers. When he’s disheartened about corporate corruption and his failed attempts to succeed are turned upside down, Lippe goes on a wild ride that includes a one-night stand with a hooker and a drunken binge with fellow agents — all in Cedar Rapids, whose population is roughly 130,000. Along for the ride are characters played by John C. Reilly (”Chicago,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby)” and Anne Heche (”Volcano,” “Prozac Nation”).
Portrayal of insurance agents: Inaccurate, offensive
“It looks like the writer’s idea of what an insurance agent is like is very different from the real thing. But I am as aware of and amused by the stereotypes as anyone. And, like any stereotype, some of it looks like it is spot-on and some will be a magnificent parody,” says Michelle Rupp, a spokeswoman for Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, a trade organization.
Jennifer Nelson, an Allstate agent in Iselin, N.J., says “Cedar Rapids” writer Phil Johnston is a little out of touch with reality, but she acknowledges that the film probably wasn’t meant to be “an accurate portrayal of insurance professionals.”
Nelson says most insurance agents are hometown professionals who do their best to help clients and succeed in business.
“Insurance is a very competitive industry, and people have a lot of choice about who to give their business to. If people don’t feel that their agent is competent, trustworthy professional, they take their business elsewhere,” Nelson says.
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| The attendees at an insurance convention in “Cedar Rapids” are truly a cast of characters. |
Some insurance agents aren’t willing to brush off the lead character’s bumbling, almost inept, version of an insurance salesman.
“The fact that he’s written as someone who was supposed to ‘go places’ and didn’t — so insurance was his only option or is a pitiful backup plan — is insulting,” says John Crabbe, a Farmers agent in Chicago. Crabbe says it’s “offensive” to create the impression, as he asserts “Cedar Rapids” does, that insurance agents are so gullible and irresponsible.
Crabbe says he doesn’t mind the partying and carousing that take place at the “Cedar Rapids” convention. Still, Crabb says that scenario isn’t reminiscent of any industry event he’s ever attended.
“I hope that people will see it as a typical Hollywood depiction — all fluff and no substance,” says Chad Bitterlich, vice president of Navion Insurance Associates Inc. in Anaheim Hills, Calif.
The agents’ wild ride in the flick is far-fetched, professionals say, particularly because the characters in “Cedar Rapids” have entirely too much free time on their hands. But showing a bunch of agents discussing customer service and actuarial tables won’t sell tickets, popcorn or soda at the theater.
Insurance agents make easy target
So, why pick on insurance agents?
“Many see insurance agents as holding great power over their lives. So it’s fun and comforting to make them appear little more ‘human’,” New York City psychotherapist Carol Rubins says.
Rubins says movies like “Cedar Rapids” aren’t necessarily picking on agents, anyway.
“The extreme dramatization of personality quirks and stereotypes is particularly synonymous with Hollywood,” she says. “That sort of over-dramatization provides moviegoers with a much-needed release from the pressures of paying high insurance rates and other typical life events.”
Are you worried that your insurance agent may be too much like the well-meaning but seemingly clueless main character in “Cedar Rapids”? You need not fret, Rubins says.
“A nice guy is going to have your best interests at heart. An agent like that would probably be forthright and honest, and tell you don’t buy extra coverage if it’s not needed,” Rubins says.
–Gina Roberts-Grey
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