"30 Minutes or Less" is a surprisingly dull action comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg as a pizza delivery guy who finds himself strapped to a bomb and tasked with robbing a local bank. Responsible for cooking up his dilemma are actors Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, who play a pair of delinquent, inept criminals.
The film takes a slow half hour to gets to its high concept, its romantic subplot feels tacked on, its derivative of the "Crank" franchise, our heroes and villains aren't particularly well written and most of its jokes fall flat. The film is sickeningly based on a real life crime gone bad. This crime was responsible for a famous snuff video in which Brian Douglas Wells, the man upon whom Eisenberg's character is based, dies when a bomb around his neck explodes. "30 Minutes of Less" turns this sad tale into stoner wish-fulfilment.
The film stars a number of comedians, one of whom is Aziz Ansari. None are funny, thanks to a rambling script which mistakingly believes that shapelessness and lethargic, discursive dialogue are intrinsically subversive humour. The film was directed by Ruben Fleischer, whose previous film, "Zombieland", was much better.
4/10 – Worth no viewings.
The film takes a slow half hour to gets to its high concept, its romantic subplot feels tacked on, its derivative of the "Crank" franchise, our heroes and villains aren't particularly well written and most of its jokes fall flat. The film is sickeningly based on a real life crime gone bad. This crime was responsible for a famous snuff video in which Brian Douglas Wells, the man upon whom Eisenberg's character is based, dies when a bomb around his neck explodes. "30 Minutes of Less" turns this sad tale into stoner wish-fulfilment.
The film stars a number of comedians, one of whom is Aziz Ansari. None are funny, thanks to a rambling script which mistakingly believes that shapelessness and lethargic, discursive dialogue are intrinsically subversive humour. The film was directed by Ruben Fleischer, whose previous film, "Zombieland", was much better.
4/10 – Worth no viewings.