30 minutos o menos

30 Minutes or Less is one short film, but snappier than a angry crocodile. The story's ludicrous, but sustains our suspension of disbelief. An immature man (Dany McBride), living under a strict, wealthy father, plots his assassination. Along with his not-as-stupid-but-still-stupid best friend (Nick Swardson), they strap a bomb to a pizza delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg), and force him to rob a bank, so they can pay for a hit-man to bump off McBride's father. McBride and Swardson's stupidity match their unquestionable plans. The bank robbery's not exaggerated or understated thanks to the directing skills of Ruben Fleischer (known for Zombieland) and the main man Jesse Eisenberg. Now comfortable in the comedy field, Eisenberg naturally juggles humour with nerves. 30 Minutes or Less is chock-full of humour, action and energetic dialogue, all the while keeping character's traits. 30MoL comes with a weakness though: Danny McBride. He manages to uphold the 'biggest moron' and 'biggest typecast' awards, producing the fewest laughs. Aziz Ansari however, picks up the award for the most. He's the yin to Eisenberg's yang, joining Eisenberg on the nightmare of all days.

The second feature film from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer (but not the same film's writers) is ostensibly an "original" comedy, but borrows heavily from the true case of a pizza delivery guy who got kidnapped by two crooks, strapped with a bomb and forced to go and rob a bank. In his case it was not a comedy at all, and the guy did die (the bomb was also strapped to his head, kind of a different and more f***ed-up scenario this film wouldn't touch even if it could try). But for Fleischer and company, who needs to make it all dramatic? Or even make much sense in terms of plot?

The movie carries its moments, mostly through improvisation (or what would appear to be just going off on small tangents by actors like Danny McBride and Jesse Eisenberg, the latter the pizza guy who gets the bomb strapped to him by McBride and his co-hort). And there were even those few moments where I found myself laughing hard at the actors' repore, especially when Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari get into a good groove riffing off each other about, say, their foolishness in messing each other's respective ex-girlfriends and/or sisters. And the actual bank robbery carries some real thrills (if capped by a mediocre car chase aided by some weak 80's car-chase parody).

Ultimately I couldn't get over how needlessly complicated the plot was in McBride's plot to knock off his father, played by Fred Ward (who actually steals his scenes completely as a crazed ex-Major who won the lottery), as a plot to make millions comes down to a pizza delivery boy. Perhaps if Elmore Leonard was brought in for a rewrite it could've been made brilliant.

As it stands it's a stupid story perked up by a stupid series of comic-suspense set-pieces as Eisenberg and Anzari prepare for the robbery. For some the crazy hijinks will be enough. For me, it could have done a lot more, despite the principal cast members doing their best to bring it up to something better.

Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a slacker smart-mouthed pizza delivery guy. His best friend is Chet (Aziz Ansari). He's also in love with Chet's twin Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson) are two idiot wannabe criminals. Dwayne is belittled by his father The Major (Fred Ward). He comes up with an idea to force the pizza boy to steal $100k for them by strapping him to a bomb. He wants the money to pay hit-man Chango (Michael Peña) to kill The Major whom he finds through stripper Juicy (Bianca Kajlich). Nick gets Chet to join him in a crime spree.

The movie is split into two main and one minor duo. The group is full of funny people. I really like Eisenberg with Ansari. Ansari is a hilarious guy and there is great chemistry. McBride and Swardson are uneven. They get tiresome with them doing their bit. They keep disrupting the fun with Eisenberg and Ansari. I wish they stay with them while having less time with McBride and Swardson. The two wacky idiots could be much funnier with shorter and harder hits.

While some movies boast both an intriguing premise and a strong plot, this particular film failed to capitalize on these potential strengths. Despite its low budget, the execution by the makers and actors left much to be desired, resulting in a poorly made mess. My initial expectations were met with disappointment, even though I approached the movie with a positive mindset on a Saturday night. However, it's not all bleak; there are sporadic moments of comedy and a decent storyline that salvage it from being a complete disaster.

Though the movie may not leave a lasting impression, it does offer some entertainment value, making it suitable for passing the time. While it falls short of greatness, it can serve as a diversion for a laid-back viewing experience.

While the premise of this film leaves much room for hilarity, as shown by the promising trailer, it was unable to capitalize on this due to what feels like a lackluster effort on the part of the writers. There are many tell-tale indications of this, such as in the inconsistency of the characters. Palpable tension is generated between characters without any warning, and then it is forgotten by the next scene.

Another glaring issue was the pacing of the story. If you saw the trailer, you would think it centered around this bank robbery by two normal guys. However, this is only one small piece of the movie. The opening was simultaneously slow and somewhat insufficient, then everything sped up tremendously, and then the latter half of the film was dragged out to fill up the remaining time needed for the movie to be taken seriously.

In all, I would rate this film a 6.5/10 since it was still entertaining and done by clearly talented actors. However, note that this is far from their best work, probably because the actors were confused about who their characters were.