Helping Tim to adjust and resist Deans bale-ful influence are Tims other roommate, Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr. of The Wire), a burly, deep-voiced black man who likes community thea-ter and a character on the series The Wire, and the luminous Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), a wife and mother of two who likes to treat the yearly weekend in Cedar Rapids as her time to go a little crazy.
), apparently the first African American Tim has laid eyes on, and Dean "Deanzie" Ziegler (John C. Reilly), a foul-mouthed boor who has an off-color joke for every occasion. Taking it all in one-of-the-boys stride is Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche), whose own code of the road doesn't quite account for Tim's disarming sincerity. "You realize you just made it sound cool to be an insurance salesman," Joan says after Tim delivers a moving soliloquy on helping people through the worst moments of their lives.