It would be easy -- no, make that it is easy -- to deplore, or
at least strongly object to, the new, ostensibly envelope-pushing comedy "30 Minutes or Less" on morals/taste grounds right
off the bat, without even seeing it. After all, its premise -- pizza delivery
guy is forced to rob a bank because depraved criminals have strapped a live,
remote-controlled bomb to his upper torso -- is pretty much photocopied from a
real-life crime of 2003 that ended with the death of the victim of the
kidnapping and bomb-strapping, and said crime was not funny in the least.
So, yes, boo to Hollywood opportunism, boo to screenwriter Michael Diliberti,
boo to his story collaborator Matthew Sullivan, boo, boo, boo. I wish I could
maintain my entirely justified stance of moral superiority, but unfortunately,
crassness of the derivation of its premise aside, "30 Minutes or Less" worked
for me: It's punchy, nasty, laugh-out-loud-funny stuff that doesn't flag or wear
out its welcome. Clocking in at a mere 83 minutes (why, that's not even three
times 30!), it has so little dead air that one might even legitimately call it
the "His Girl Friday" of bomb-strapped-to-the-chest
caper comedies.
The story line is a fairly elaborate one, given that the movie is for the
most part a series of comic exchanges between two sets of two characters.
Crapulent layabout Dwayne (Danny McBride) wants to off his
oppressive dad (Fred Ward) and so concocts a scheme with his
dim-bulb best friend and "business" partner Travis (Nick Swardson) to rob a bank via a torso-bomb
hostage. That hostage will be Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), the bright but directionless
(too much weed, romantic disappointment) pizza delivery guy who's on the outs
with his own best friend and roomie Chet (Aziz Ansari) on account of being in
love with his sister Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). The pals throw in
together after Nick's kidnapped and placed in his awkward position.
This may seem like an odd movie for the Oscar-nominated Eisenberg to be in,
and it's perhaps odder still that his function here is more or less as straight
man to the motor-mouthed Ansari, who really steps up the obnoxious persona he's
honed on the sitcom "Parks and Recreation." But the duo play off each other
beautifully, and Eisenberg's dry mode is as effective as his desperate one. I
hear a number of people are approaching this film with a severe case of Danny
McBride fatigue; as I've always been kind of take-it-or-leave-it on the McBride
issue, I have little reason to be either elated or disappointed by his turn
here. I think it was wise to make his character 100-percent unappealing rather
than ironically unappealing, inverse unappealing, or whatever they're calling
these you-hate-'em-but-you-really-love-'em characters that populate so much of
what somebody on the Internet termed "edgy niche humor" these days. As for
Swardson, he's just right in an old-school "Which way did he go, George?" mode
of dumb. Michael Peña shows up midway through and seems to
really enjoy upending his usual soulful Latino role, playing a moronic and
therefore more than conventionally lethal would-be hit man.
It's all very yes-we're-going-there in terms of the dialogue, and knowing
with the pop culture references (there's a Facebook joke that actually works,
for reasons pertaining to an earlier Eisenberg film), so there's not much new
ground broken. But the jokes are almost all good, and director Ruben Fleischer (who also made the
entertaining and not morally uplifting "Zombieland," also with Eisenberg) is pretty great
with the timing and ruthless about keeping the whole thing fat-free. While one
might not be able to forgive the filmmakers on account of their not knowing what
they do, they can be awarded points for scoring hard laughs.
Glenn Kenny is chief film critic for MSN Movies. He was the chief film
critic for Premiere magazine from 1998 to 2007. He contributes to various
publications and websites, and blogs at http://somecamerunning.typepad.com.
He lives in Brooklyn.
For more movie news, follow MSN Movies on Facebook and Twitter.
It would be easy -- no, make that it is easy -- to deplore, or
at least strongly object to, the new, ostensibly envelope-pushing comedy "30 Minutes or Less" on morals/taste grounds right
off the bat, without even seeing it. After all, its premise -- pizza delivery
guy is forced to rob a bank because depraved criminals have strapped a live,
remote-controlled bomb to his upper torso -- is pretty much photocopied from a
real-life crime of 2003 that ended with the death of the victim of the
kidnapping and bomb-strapping, and said crime was not funny in the least.
So, yes, boo to Hollywood opportunism, boo to screenwriter Michael Diliberti,
boo to his story collaborator Matthew Sullivan, boo, boo, boo. I wish I could
maintain my entirely justified stance of moral superiority, but unfortunately,
crassness of the derivation of its premise aside, "30 Minutes or Less" worked
for me: It's punchy, nasty, laugh-out-loud-funny stuff that doesn't flag or wear
out its welcome. Clocking in at a mere 83 minutes (why, that's not even three
times 30!), it has so little dead air that one might even legitimately call it
the "His Girl Friday" of bomb-strapped-to-the-chest
caper comedies.
The story line is a fairly elaborate one, given that the movie is for the
most part a series of comic exchanges between two sets of two characters.
Crapulent layabout Dwayne (Danny McBride) wants to off his
oppressive dad (Fred Ward) and so concocts a scheme with his
dim-bulb best friend and "business" partner Travis (Nick Swardson) to rob a bank via a torso-bomb
hostage. That hostage will be Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), the bright but directionless
(too much weed, romantic disappointment) pizza delivery guy who's on the outs
with his own best friend and roomie Chet (Aziz Ansari) on account of being in
love with his sister Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). The pals throw in
together after Nick's kidnapped and placed in his awkward position.
This may seem like an odd movie for the Oscar-nominated Eisenberg to be in,
and it's perhaps odder still that his function here is more or less as straight
man to the motor-mouthed Ansari, who really steps up the obnoxious persona he's
honed on the sitcom "Parks and Recreation." But the duo play off each other
beautifully, and Eisenberg's dry mode is as effective as his desperate one. I
hear a number of people are approaching this film with a severe case of Danny
McBride fatigue; as I've always been kind of take-it-or-leave-it on the McBride
issue, I have little reason to be either elated or disappointed by his turn
here. I think it was wise to make his character 100-percent unappealing rather
than ironically unappealing, inverse unappealing, or whatever they're calling
these you-hate-'em-but-you-really-love-'em characters that populate so much of
what somebody on the Internet termed "edgy niche humor" these days. As for
Swardson, he's just right in an old-school "Which way did he go, George?" mode
of dumb. Michael Peña shows up midway through and seems to
really enjoy upending his usual soulful Latino role, playing a moronic and
therefore more than conventionally lethal would-be hit man.
It's all very yes-we're-going-there in terms of the dialogue, and knowing
with the pop culture references (there's a Facebook joke that actually works,
for reasons pertaining to an earlier Eisenberg film), so there's not much new
ground broken. But the jokes are almost all good, and director Ruben Fleischer (who also made the
entertaining and not morally uplifting "Zombieland," also with Eisenberg) is pretty great
with the timing and ruthless about keeping the whole thing fat-free. While one
might not be able to forgive the filmmakers on account of their not knowing what
they do, they can be awarded points for scoring hard laughs.
Glenn Kenny is chief film critic for MSN Movies. He was the chief film
critic for Premiere magazine from 1998 to 2007. He contributes to various
publications and websites, and blogs at http://somecamerunning.typepad.com.
He lives in Brooklyn.
For more movie news, follow MSN Movies on Facebook and Twitter.
