Grade: B+
Good: Hilarious performances from McBride, Swardson and Ansari; Eisenberg anchors the flick as an edgy, clever slacker; Consistent laughs born from solid pacing and deft balance of strong comedy and light action.
Bad: Racial comedy may be off-putting to some audiences; less of an action film than trailers would lead audiences to believe
Ugly: Man+Alcohol+Flamethrower. Do the math.
About ten years ago, the R-rated comedy didn’t hold nearly as much weight as it does today. In wake of The Hangover—the first one, the good one—the stable of Judd Apatow films, and a select few surprise hits in the vein of both, audiences are getting their fill of risqué comedies. That’s not news. What’s also not news is the fact that this glut has allowed for some inspired genre mash-ups. From Hangover’s Memento style mystery to stoner caper Pineapple Express to zombie homage Zombieland, some of the best R-rated of the past few years have successfully spliced genres to provide great stories and big laughs. Of course, genre mashing works as often as it fails (looking at you, Your Highness). But, when it works, something great is born.
Like some of the more successful comedic genre splicers, Rueben Fleischer’s 30 Minutes or Less offers a riotous, irreverent take on two seemingly incompatible genres—heist and slacker flicks—that pretty much tramples the limits of good taste. In 30 Minutes, Fleischer reunites with the lead from his superior cult hit Zombieland, Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Nick, a slacker pizza delivery boy with no clear ambition beyond getting drunk and watching action movies. Nick appears to be a kick-ass driver who can easily, but never actually does, beat his crap pizzeria’s 30 minute or less delivery credo. On one of his deliveries, he runs afoul of doofus underachievers, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson), who have hatched a plan to get a million dollars. All they have to do is kill Dwayne’s father, a retired Marine Major (Fred Grandy) who hit the lottery and is steadily burning through his winnings. The hitch is that these two amateur criminals are just clever enough to devise a plan that will keep them far south of implication. To that end, they kidnap Nick and strap a bomb to him with the condition that he must rob a bank in ten hours, netting them enough money to hire an “assassin” (Michael Pena) to kill the Major. Nick turns to his friend and roommate Chet (a stiff, but hilarious Aziz Ansari) for help as tries to rob the bank and outsmart a collection of criminals that are far more dangerous in their ignorance. Hilarity, of the highest order, ensues.
Eisenberg, fresh off the triumph of playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network, continues show why he is so much more than the Michael Cera clone many predicted he’d become. He brings a jittery quality to Nick that belies his slacker tendencies. From the very beginning, Eisenberg’s Nick seems clever and possessed of some skill, but unmotivated, coming off as cross between his on the edge interpretation of Zuckerberg and his smarter than the average slacker Columbus from Zombieland, with a dash of Adventureland’s James. While Eisenberg doesn’t get to deliver a ton of punch lines, Ansari, McBride and Swardson more than make up the slack. Ansari proves as stiff as he was when he hosted the MTV Movie Awards last year, but still delivers some quality jokes that would never get pass network or basic cable sensors. Hopefully, in the very near future, he’ll become more comfortable in front of the camera or else this kid is going to be banished to the comedy clubs. Danny McBride carries the heaviest loads with a Kenny Powers-esque performance as spiteful, ambitious and slightly racist Dwayne. McBride’s commitment to playing straight-faced slime balls is pretty unmatched these days, and McBride’s performance in 30 Minutes only helps prove that point. Swardson proves an ample sidekick and moral counterpoint to McBride, using his dimwitted, good natured charm to make McBride’s Dwayne appear even more outrageous. Michael Pena arrives midway through the flick as a “skilled assassin” whose sketchiness adds some solid laughs while escalating the stakes significantly. Unlike Fleishcer’s Zombieland, female roles a pretty underserved here, with only Greek’s Dillshad Vadsaria (Kate, Nick’s crush and Chet’s sister) barely registering more than a damsel in absence then distress.
Fleischer is wise to let his cast do most of the heavy lifting in 30 Minutes as their performances keep the laughs consistent, but 30 Minutes is so well-paced and slyly furious that even a lesser cast would have needed to go out of their way to screw this up. For all the sly digs and farce he and screenwriter Michael Diliberti pack into 30 Minutes, neither eases up on showing the ugliness of the characters or the inevitable violence that results from Dwayne and Travis’ twisted endeavor. Aside from Nick, Chet, Kate and possibly Travis, these are not good people—even Nick and Chet stretch the limits of likability by being such pricks to each other in the early going. The litany of racist slurs some of the characters sling would be enough to turn off most if they weren’t executed by such dopey, and obvious, villains. Fleischer makes another wise move in having the characters almost constantly undone in the vein of classic heist movies where everything goes to hell because no one trusts each other—think the Fargo or Ladykillers, or, heck, any of the Cohens’ more comedic crime films, only more vulgar, and you’d have 30 Minutes. When things fall apart for the characters in 30 Minutes, Fleischer steps up to offer some decent action sequences, including a well-staged, if brief car chase and a sidesplitting take on a failed money drop. While not as creative as some of the action in Zombieland, the scenes are exceptionally effective as comedy, even at the expense of genuine thrills. Fleischer may not pack a great deal of thrills into his action scenes, but at least he keeps things moving, never leaving a minute for this flick to drag. 30 Minutes clocks in at a scant 83 minutes, a fine shift in an age where movies are becoming increasingly longer for no good reason.
As brisk and hilarious as 30 Minutes is, some of the racial gags can really sneak up an unsuspecting audience, so consider this a warning, and, despite what the trailers are selling, it’s not overly action packed. 30 minutes is a comedy first, crime film second. Also, humor is totally relative, so if the comedic stylings of Ansari, McBride, and Swardson as well as Fleischer’s own skewed senses of humor aren’t your cup of tea then everything after the credits will pretty much fall flat. If, however, you enjoyed Zombieland and the Cohens’ comedic crime films, and don’t find Jesse Eisenberg to be a nauseating Cera-clone, then you’ll find 30 Minutes to be one of the best R-rated comedies this year and one of the better genre mash-ups in the past three years.
Good: Hilarious performances from McBride, Swardson and Ansari; Eisenberg anchors the flick as an edgy, clever slacker; Consistent laughs born from solid pacing and deft balance of strong comedy and light action.
Bad: Racial comedy may be off-putting to some audiences; less of an action film than trailers would lead audiences to believe
Ugly: Man+Alcohol+Flamethrower. Do the math.
About ten years ago, the R-rated comedy didn’t hold nearly as much weight as it does today. In wake of The Hangover—the first one, the good one—the stable of Judd Apatow films, and a select few surprise hits in the vein of both, audiences are getting their fill of risqué comedies. That’s not news. What’s also not news is the fact that this glut has allowed for some inspired genre mash-ups. From Hangover’s Memento style mystery to stoner caper Pineapple Express to zombie homage Zombieland, some of the best R-rated of the past few years have successfully spliced genres to provide great stories and big laughs. Of course, genre mashing works as often as it fails (looking at you, Your Highness). But, when it works, something great is born.
Like some of the more successful comedic genre splicers, Rueben Fleischer’s 30 Minutes or Less offers a riotous, irreverent take on two seemingly incompatible genres—heist and slacker flicks—that pretty much tramples the limits of good taste. In 30 Minutes, Fleischer reunites with the lead from his superior cult hit Zombieland, Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Nick, a slacker pizza delivery boy with no clear ambition beyond getting drunk and watching action movies. Nick appears to be a kick-ass driver who can easily, but never actually does, beat his crap pizzeria’s 30 minute or less delivery credo. On one of his deliveries, he runs afoul of doofus underachievers, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson), who have hatched a plan to get a million dollars. All they have to do is kill Dwayne’s father, a retired Marine Major (Fred Grandy) who hit the lottery and is steadily burning through his winnings. The hitch is that these two amateur criminals are just clever enough to devise a plan that will keep them far south of implication. To that end, they kidnap Nick and strap a bomb to him with the condition that he must rob a bank in ten hours, netting them enough money to hire an “assassin” (Michael Pena) to kill the Major. Nick turns to his friend and roommate Chet (a stiff, but hilarious Aziz Ansari) for help as tries to rob the bank and outsmart a collection of criminals that are far more dangerous in their ignorance. Hilarity, of the highest order, ensues.
Eisenberg, fresh off the triumph of playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network, continues show why he is so much more than the Michael Cera clone many predicted he’d become. He brings a jittery quality to Nick that belies his slacker tendencies. From the very beginning, Eisenberg’s Nick seems clever and possessed of some skill, but unmotivated, coming off as cross between his on the edge interpretation of Zuckerberg and his smarter than the average slacker Columbus from Zombieland, with a dash of Adventureland’s James. While Eisenberg doesn’t get to deliver a ton of punch lines, Ansari, McBride and Swardson more than make up the slack. Ansari proves as stiff as he was when he hosted the MTV Movie Awards last year, but still delivers some quality jokes that would never get pass network or basic cable sensors. Hopefully, in the very near future, he’ll become more comfortable in front of the camera or else this kid is going to be banished to the comedy clubs. Danny McBride carries the heaviest loads with a Kenny Powers-esque performance as spiteful, ambitious and slightly racist Dwayne. McBride’s commitment to playing straight-faced slime balls is pretty unmatched these days, and McBride’s performance in 30 Minutes only helps prove that point. Swardson proves an ample sidekick and moral counterpoint to McBride, using his dimwitted, good natured charm to make McBride’s Dwayne appear even more outrageous. Michael Pena arrives midway through the flick as a “skilled assassin” whose sketchiness adds some solid laughs while escalating the stakes significantly. Unlike Fleishcer’s Zombieland, female roles a pretty underserved here, with only Greek’s Dillshad Vadsaria (Kate, Nick’s crush and Chet’s sister) barely registering more than a damsel in absence then distress.
Fleischer is wise to let his cast do most of the heavy lifting in 30 Minutes as their performances keep the laughs consistent, but 30 Minutes is so well-paced and slyly furious that even a lesser cast would have needed to go out of their way to screw this up. For all the sly digs and farce he and screenwriter Michael Diliberti pack into 30 Minutes, neither eases up on showing the ugliness of the characters or the inevitable violence that results from Dwayne and Travis’ twisted endeavor. Aside from Nick, Chet, Kate and possibly Travis, these are not good people—even Nick and Chet stretch the limits of likability by being such pricks to each other in the early going. The litany of racist slurs some of the characters sling would be enough to turn off most if they weren’t executed by such dopey, and obvious, villains. Fleischer makes another wise move in having the characters almost constantly undone in the vein of classic heist movies where everything goes to hell because no one trusts each other—think the Fargo or Ladykillers, or, heck, any of the Cohens’ more comedic crime films, only more vulgar, and you’d have 30 Minutes. When things fall apart for the characters in 30 Minutes, Fleischer steps up to offer some decent action sequences, including a well-staged, if brief car chase and a sidesplitting take on a failed money drop. While not as creative as some of the action in Zombieland, the scenes are exceptionally effective as comedy, even at the expense of genuine thrills. Fleischer may not pack a great deal of thrills into his action scenes, but at least he keeps things moving, never leaving a minute for this flick to drag. 30 Minutes clocks in at a scant 83 minutes, a fine shift in an age where movies are becoming increasingly longer for no good reason.
As brisk and hilarious as 30 Minutes is, some of the racial gags can really sneak up an unsuspecting audience, so consider this a warning, and, despite what the trailers are selling, it’s not overly action packed. 30 minutes is a comedy first, crime film second. Also, humor is totally relative, so if the comedic stylings of Ansari, McBride, and Swardson as well as Fleischer’s own skewed senses of humor aren’t your cup of tea then everything after the credits will pretty much fall flat. If, however, you enjoyed Zombieland and the Cohens’ comedic crime films, and don’t find Jesse Eisenberg to be a nauseating Cera-clone, then you’ll find 30 Minutes to be one of the best R-rated comedies this year and one of the better genre mash-ups in the past three years.
