Director Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up to the rather excellent Zombieland, promises a great deal but ultimately fails to deliver. With an excellent cast and an interesting premise, 30 Minutes or Less had the opportunity to be the rarest of cinematic treats-a funny comedy. Instead, it has only a few good one-liners that are in turn cancelled out by its overall crassness.
Jesse Eisenberg is Nick; a small town loser stuck delivering pizzas whilst lusting after his best friend Chet’s sister. A perennial man-child, Nick is only motivated to action when a bomb is strapped to his chest by two ‘criminal masterminds.’As he is left with only ten hours to rob a bank and sort his life out in the intervening moments, Nick enlists Chet. Together they attempt to evade a variety of increasingly desperate psychopaths, whilst living out their latent Point Break fantasies.
Nick Swardson and Danny McBride do make a deliciously stupid double-act as the film’s would-be evil geniuses, but unfortunately fall victim to some of the scripts’ weaker moments. The sweet, nervous shtick Eisenberg excels at fails him here. At best, he hints at something more sinister behind Nick’s (vaguely gleeful) participation in the heist. At worst, he looks almost bored by himself.
Michael Pena, as the hitman Chango, is suitably unhinged but the film is really Chet’s (Aziz Ansari). At times playing the only truly likeable character, Ansari is consistently brilliant, particularly towards the end as the plot seems to unravel before the audience’s eyes. Tellingly, a lot of his jokes are race-orientated. By Hollywood standards, it’s impossible to be racist if the person who is doing the gag is of Indian heritage. Certainly, it is this mindset which makes Thirty Minutes or Less so disappointing. The female characters are invariably either strippers or insipid, and the males seem to stumble from one set-up to another with no real understanding of their circumstances or the implications of their actions.
It is the tone which Fleischer seems to have got so wrong, mistaking maturity for vulgarity and biting satire for political incorrectness. It seems he wants to say there is an undercurrent of violence at the heart of suburban America, but he has strapped a giant bomb to the metaphor making it impossible for the audience to take it seriously. It would appear that Thirty Minutes or Less is the cinematic equivalent of fast-food, digestible but offering little of substance.
Nicole Flattery.
Dan O.
September 8, 2011
This is no comedy classic, but it delivers plenty of laughs, thanks to a witty script and no less than five very hilarious performances. Good Review! Check out my site when you get a chance!