Movie Review: "30 Minutes or Less"

Seen on: August 7, 2011

The players: Director: Ruben Fleischer, Writers: Michael Diliberti, Matthew Sullivan, Cast: Jessie Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari

Fact of interest: This is the third Jessie Eisenberg movie in a row in which his character makes a reference to Facebook.

The plot: Two enterprising criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest and make him rob a bank.

Our thoughts: So, you take a pretty high concept idea (criminals strap a bomb on a hapless victim and force him to commit a crime). Then you take that idea and turn it on its ear by casting three of the funniest comedic actors working today (Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, and Nick Swardson) and anchor that with a recent Academy Award nominee (Jessie Eisenberg). In short, you have the making for a delicious stew of steaming awesomeness, am I right?

But man, what the hell happened?

This is what happens when you try to mix genres and try too hard to appease both sides. “30 Minutes or Less” tries to be both a stoner comedy and a crime thriller, and truth be told, it fails miserably at both, primarily because it just never really knows what it really wants to be.

Trying to be a crime thriller with this cast is like putting the cast of “The Expendables” into a romantic comedy; it just falls flat. It’s just not what their strong suit is. All “30 Minutes or Less” does is take this comedic goldmine of talent and spend way too much time trying to be hard-boiled and too serious.

The only real laughs that do come from this movie are through Aziz Anzari as our hero’s sidekick. His acerbic sense of humor and delivery are the only real bright points, and he’s the only one of the stars that really ever gets to breathe and bring a part of themselves to the movie. 

Danny McBride plays his usual false arrogance schtick, which works early on in the movie, but ends up coming off as weird and creepy as the tone of the movie tries to shift to serious. And Jesse Eisenberg... well, he's Jesse Eisenberg.

Freaky quote: "You want to have an “adult conversation”?? That’s rich coming from the guy who had a lunchable for dinner last night!" - Tom Felton

The final word: Overall, this movie is an easy pass at the cineplexes. Other than a car chase and a few funny lines here and there, "30 Minutes or less" completely misses the target. It’s a shame, and a total waste of talent. That's all there needs to be said, really.

On the web: http://www.30minutesorless.com/

Article by Danny Alves