"30 Minutes or Less" writers were ill-informed, relying heavily on randomness and two comedians, Danny McBride ("Your Highness") and Nick Swardson ("Just Got With It") who prove that comedy fails when solely based on wiener jokes. Therefore, it is a good thing Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network") is solidly funny and Aziz Ansari (NBC's "Parks and Recreation") proves himself as more than just a television comedian. However, the role of the antagonists is given too much emphasis. Slacker Dwayne (McBride) has growing hatred for his ex-military father, The Major (Fred Ward, "Armored"), who became rich by winning the lottery. After very little thought and preparation Dwayne and his best friend, Travis (Swardson), decide they want to start their own prostitution ring masked as a tanning salon. First they need to kill The Major in order to inherit his money. Enter a stripper named Juicy (Bianca Kajlich, CBS's "Rules of Engagement") who connects them with Chango (Michael Peña, "The Lincoln Lawyer") a pimp willing to kill The Major for $100,000. Meanwhile, Nick (Eisenberg), an underachiever "30 Minutes or Less" pizza delivery boy, and his best friend Chet (Ansari), a successful teacher, have a falling out centering on Nick's one-night escapade with Chet's sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria, ABC Family's "Greek"). After the fallout Nick is called on a pizza run ending with him getting a bomb strapped to his body by Dwayne and Travis. With the help of Chet, Nick must rob a bank of $100,000 for Dwayne and Travis before the bomb explodes.
The Good: When a film bombards an audience with one-liners, the odds are that at least one will be successful. McBride's brightest moment can be attributed to this phenomenon as a non-wiener joke hits the scene. Otherwise, Eisenberg and Ansari are oddly hilarious with one proving he is plain and simply a great actor and the other revealing silver screen comedic strength. Eisenberg takes on his least nerdy role to date and nails it creating a badass side that was only slightly revealed in "Zombieland". Even so, Ansari is the funniest part of the film with cheeky comedic dialogue.
The film is the most far-fetched and illogical film of the year because of its lack of attention to more than half a dozen significant continuity issues. These issues include the inattention to detail in covering up the bank robbery, the importance of Kate's job offer in Georgia and most importantly the antidevelopment of the movie title beyond the pizza place's motto. When you add the overdevelopment of the potty-mouthed antagonists played by struggling feature film comedians McBride and Swardson, things are bound for failure. And if you are expecting a conclusive ending tying everything together, you won't get it.
Two downers plus two uppers produces an average comedy that may give you a couple quotable one-liners, but the film itself will be forgotten just like the film's title "30 Minutes or Less" was when developing the plot.
The Good: When a film bombards an audience with one-liners, the odds are that at least one will be successful. McBride's brightest moment can be attributed to this phenomenon as a non-wiener joke hits the scene. Otherwise, Eisenberg and Ansari are oddly hilarious with one proving he is plain and simply a great actor and the other revealing silver screen comedic strength. Eisenberg takes on his least nerdy role to date and nails it creating a badass side that was only slightly revealed in "Zombieland". Even so, Ansari is the funniest part of the film with cheeky comedic dialogue.
The film is the most far-fetched and illogical film of the year because of its lack of attention to more than half a dozen significant continuity issues. These issues include the inattention to detail in covering up the bank robbery, the importance of Kate's job offer in Georgia and most importantly the antidevelopment of the movie title beyond the pizza place's motto. When you add the overdevelopment of the potty-mouthed antagonists played by struggling feature film comedians McBride and Swardson, things are bound for failure. And if you are expecting a conclusive ending tying everything together, you won't get it.
Two downers plus two uppers produces an average comedy that may give you a couple quotable one-liners, but the film itself will be forgotten just like the film's title "30 Minutes or Less" was when developing the plot.