Nick just wanted to coast through life delivering pizzas, getting high and taking it easy. But his laid back lifestyle is interrupted when two assailants with some ingenuity, a fervor for explosives and too much spare time on their hands, strap a bomb to him and force him to rob a bank.
Nick just wanted to coast through life delivering pizzas, getting high and taking it easy. But his laid back lifestyle is interrupted when two assailants with some ingenuity, a fervor for explosives and too much spare time on their hands, strap a bomb to him and force him to rob a bank.
Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride star in 30 Minutes or Less, a film that if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve also seen most of the film.
Advertised as an action-comedy, 30 Minutes or Less does indeed live up to its hype—though expect far more comedy than action. Action scenes are fun, but are also few and short lived. A couple car chase scenes, of which stay closer to the French Connection than to the Fast and the Furious, will be about as intense as it gets (which is all we can hope for from the future of action films). Please stop making those piles of film.
The comedy is the main vehicle of 30 Minutes or Less, and is delivered via a rather juvenile mentality. This film taps into the junior high schooler inside each of us to garner its laughs. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, this is a funny movie with plenty to offer. But don’t expect any antics beyond dick jokes or finding clever ways to turn a phrase…a phrase of dick jokes.
Eisenberg teams up with Aziz Ansari as Nick and Chet, while McBride is accompanied by Nick Swardson as Dwayne and Travis. These two teams of buddies compete to be the star attraction throughout the film and you’re not quite sure whom you want to succeed in the end.
Speaking of the end, don’t expect 30 Minutes or Less to satisfy any longings for a conclusive exit. Once the finale of antics subsides, the film just sort of ends without any resolution for our characters or the back-stories they have been founding throughout the movie.
McBride adds his signature humor and delivery as Dwayne. So signature that at times viewers might be fooled into believing they are watching an episode of East Bound and Down. Basically, if you have seen McBride before, you have already seen him in this.
While the film does bear a predictable tone, it does offer a few notable aspects. Eisenberg has been plagued with typecasting as the nervous nerd, or the notion that he is merely a substitute for Michael Cera. But Eisenberg doesn’t come off as a high anxiety nerd in the role of Nick. Aside from the expected panic one would experience while having a bomb strapped to them, Nick is a cool guy; clever and laid back. He’s the buddy you like to have a beer with.
Another stand out performance is that of Michael Pena as Chango. With minimal time on the screen, Pena almost steals the show. There isn’t a moment where he is not inciting unique laughs, or at least smirks. Pena offers the most distinctive and original character in the entire movie.
While certainly, 30 Minutes or Less can be predictable, and to some mediocre, it does well enough to deserve a nod of approval, providing a decent portion of laughter to warrant a viewing. It may be worth the wait to see it at a second-run theater. One that offers the benefit of a good beer or three.
