Adam Collins posted on August 12, 2011 12:11
Jesse Eisenberg reteams with Ruben Fleischer, the director of 2009’s surprise hit Zombieland, for this Friday’s 30 Minutes or Less. Accompanied by Parks and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari and Eastbound and Down’s Danny McBride, the movie is apparently based on actual events, but the names have been changed, and some fictionalization has been applied. The writers and Sony are denying this, but the family of the victim of the actual events has filed a lawsuit against the film.
30 Minutes or Less follows going-nowhere-in-life pizza delivery boy Nick (Eisenberg) when he is kidnapped by Dwayne (McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). Dwayne and Travis strap a bomb vest to Nick and force him to rob a bank in order to pay Chango (Michael Pena) to kill Dwayne’s father (Fred Ward). Nick employs his reluctant best friend Chet (Ansari) to help him pull off the robbery.
The problem with 30 Minutes or Less stems from its R-rating. This marks the sixth comedy this summer with that rating. As we saw last weekend with The Change-Up, society is tiring of this style of comedy. With no constraints, the jokes are too easy, and effortless. If this film was rated PG-13, then the writers and actors would have to work harder to be funny, thus making the jokes funnier.
Danny McBride shows once again that he has no acting ability outside of Kenny Powers. Every character he plays is the same. His brand of comedy just does not work for me. He uses every word under the sun. If not for the rating, his character would have nothing to say. Of his entire filmography, only Up in the Air, Land of the Lost and two voice roles in animated movies have not been rated R. I am tired of Danny McBride and cringe at the thought of him making more films. I must admit, however, that I do enjoy Eastbound & Down.
Aziz Ansari seems like he just decided this was an episode of Parks and Recreation. He is nothing more than Tom Haverford. After tremendous acting in The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg reverts back to his “awkward guy” persona from Zombieland and Adventureland. Fred Ward reprised his father figure role from Joe Dirt. This leaves only Michael Pena. His turn as the hired hitman really shines.
In the end, I found 30 Minutes or Less very fun and entertaining, minus McBride. I just wish that it had tried harder to be the better film it was meant to be. The bank robbery itself is hilarious. The following car chase is well filmed. Fleischer has some great shots in the film. His action scenes are great, on par with the ones from Zombieland.
So, is it worth the time? It is only 83 minutes. With such a short running time, no time can be wasted, and none was. From start to finish, the film is tight. The only falter being, McBride and his trash talking mouth.
RATING: 7/10