30 Minutes or Less - (August 12th, 2011): R
Distributor: Columbia Pictures (subset of Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #5 with $13,330,118
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $25,864,430
Gross Revenue: $25,864,430
Production Budget: $28 million
Director: Ruben Fleischer
When I first saw the trailer for 30 Minutes or Less, I was thrilled to not only see Jesse Eisenberg in a more lighthearted role, but also watch Danny McBride once again embrace the type of character he has become known for, an idiotic and explosives-happy simpleton. Unfortunately, I was less enthused by some of the other names attached to the project; I may be a fan of Nick Swardson’s stand-up comedy, but I thought he burned his chance to transition to film when he went full-moron in Adam Sandler’s train-wreck from February, Just Go With It. When it comes to Aziz Ansari, while he has legions of fans from his work on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, I can admit that I always found him more arrogant and annoying than genuinely funny. And screenwriters can deny it all they want, but this plot bears way too much of a resemblance to a bank heist that occurred in August 2003 and claimed the life of a pizza delivery man who had a bomb strapped to his neck…I’m not sure it’s okay to laugh at something like that just yet. Still, with more than enough star-power to generate some big laughs, I found myself really looking forward to 30 Minutes or Less as a strong raunchy comedy closeout for the 2011 Summer Movie Season.
In case the title isn’t a dead giveaway, 30 Minutes or Less focuses on a pizza delivery driver, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg). The central antagonists are Dwayne (Danny McBride) and his childhood friend, Travis (Nick Swardson); Dwayne is an out-of-work slacker who is constantly demeaned by his rich father (Fred Ward), so he plans to have his father killed so that he can gain early access to his inheritance. In order to pay for the assassin, Chongo (Michael Peña), Dwayne and Travis need $100,000, but to prevent any connection to the crime, the two decide to force someone else to commit the bank robbery. After Travis constructs an explosive vest, the two deviant masterminds kidnap Nick and strap the bomb to him, informing their hostage that he has ten hours to rob a bank or the vest will detonate. Clearly panicked, Nick goes to his best friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) for help, and the two unwilling criminals end up hatching a plan to rob a bank in the little time that they have left.
If the plot description above sounds ludicrous, your instincts are dead-on accurate, and that’s the beauty of 30 Minutes or Less…the events unfolding onscreen are so out-of-this-world insane that you cannot help but laugh. Of all the actors, Aziz Ansari is by far the funniest, using rants of harsh reality on the other characters that are as energetic as they are hilarious, and I guarantee that you will be quoting him for months…I can now count myself as one of his fans. Even Jesse Eisenberg was a pleasant surprise, reverting back from the seriousness of his previous work in The Social Network and even lightheartedly poking fun at his famous role. The audience lost their minds when Eisenberg quipped that he doesn’t use Facebook and prefers to stay “off the grid”; that kind of clever humor is what makes most comedies fun to watch. Unfortunately, these high points I have identified are few and far in-between, meaning that, for all of its potential, 30 Minutes of Less still dropped the ball.
Even with all the different comedic talent present in the cast, the writers of 30 Minutes or Less clearly seemed more interested in being shocking rather than genuinely clever. For a shameful majority of the “jokes” present, any laughs generated were more a reaction of surprise than genuine humor, and the biggest culprit of this illusion is Michael Peña…you may laugh, but you wouldn’t call him funny. And, as much as it pains me to say it, Danny McBride was just not funny, rambling and ad-libbing constantly in almost-pathetic attempts to land on a funny comment; he had a few brief and fleeting laughs, but I’ve come to expect much more from him. In terms of story, what is on paper is exactly what you get on screen…no surprise, no depth, no substance, and no redemption for its crude characters. I guess you could give 30 Minutes or Less credit for making a bank robbery seem plausible, but what happens when a few morons actually try to recreate what they saw on screen?
You may have thought that four was too high a number for superhero films in one summer movie season, but just stop and consider that 30 Minutes or Less is the SIXTH raunchy comedy in the past three months. Audience fatigue is clear, with this newest entry opening fifth in its first weekend with a meager $13 million and equally disappointing reviews. With no international presence and a domestic haul of just below $26 million after over a week in theaters, it is sad to think that this well-known cast is actually in danger of not recovering a $28 million budget. If some distribution changes had been made in order to launch 30 Minutes or Less a little earlier in the summer, there is a chance that it would have had a stronger performance, but then again, the current box office has done anything but conform to expectations. Plain and simple, this newest comedy will probably make you laugh if you are a fan of the cast, but in all honesty, there is nothing here to demand your immediate theater attendance.
Overall Recommendation: Low
