What's Mark Zuckerberg doing in a bomb vest? Hyuk, hyuk.
30 Minutes Or Less is a comedy that bears striking similarities to a somewhat tragic real life event that occurred a few years back, and although the writers say they were "vaguely aware" of it, it feels like the borrowed quite a bit from it.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Nick, a loser pizza delivery boy who is drawn into a dangerous situation when a pair of different losers, Dwayne and Travis (Danny McBride & Nick Swardson), who strap a bomb vest on him and instruct him to rob a bank for the $100,000 they need to pay off an assassin to kill Dwayne's father. Understandably, Nick isn't too happy about that, so he ropes his friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) to help him on his misadventure.
The basic premise isn't really enough to flesh out the whole movie, but 30 Minutes Or Less does a good job filling the gaps by having all of the character cross and double cross each other throughout. The bumbling kidnappers are always on our heros' tails, and the assassin they want to hand the money over to gets caught up in the situation as well. There are several twists and turns throughout, but despite it being quite a short movie it does feel a bit lacking in actual plot. Still, the actors all do a good job, even if they're cast mostly into their archetypal roles. Eisenberg is the regular nerdy loser, perhaps with a little less nerd, Ansari is the hyperactive guy, perhaps a little bit calmer, but McBride is basically like every other McBride character. But hey, perhaps it's better to use the actors in the kind of roles they're most comfortable with, I certainly didn't find it overly annoying.
Despite falling a little short with the overall story, there are some great scenes in this movie, particularly when the pair find their way to the bank. The dialogue is sharp in some places, but could definitely use some work. Overall 30 Minutes Or Less is an entertaining movie, it just doesn't quite pack the punch of some of the other comedies out there.
My rating: 3/5
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