From its first fast-paced scene involving Jesse Eisenberg and his car, the tone and pace for 30 Mins or Less is established (it's also one of the few times where after the first scene it's fairly easy to tell if you're going to love the film or not. Me?, I loved it) . Running at a swift 83 mins, not a second is wasted and not a single opportunity for fun is denied. It's a tight, well-made fun guy flick.
30 Mins or Less is about slacker pizza delivery guy Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) and his best friend Chet (Aziz Ansari). One day after Nick and Chet butt heads over an issue and Nick storms out, he ends up having (reluctantly) to deliver one last pizza. Unfortunately, once he arrives at the place he is ambushed by two idiots, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). Once the bomb is strapped around Nick's waist, he is told that he has 10 hours to rob a bank otherwise both buffoons will blow him sky high. In a panic, he drags Chet into his problem in hopes Chet may be able to help him out (of course, this does not please Chet).
While most films would be content in following this otherwise straight-forward plot, 30 Mins or Less is more than willing to step away from the crowd and do something completely, exhilaratingly different.The film is actually alot more complex than its trailers make it out to be and in reality, while the film seems to be building up to an obvious climax it really builds up to something completely different. The trailers only show you maybe the first 30 mins of the film, the rest of 30 Mins or Less has quite a few twists, turns, and surprises so that the audience is kept guessing as to how it all will end throughout the 2nd half of the film, and while the ending is nowhere near as great as it seems to be building itself up to be, there are still quite a few eye opening moments that come out of left field. I can honestly say this is one of the few films where I couldn't guess how it all would end, and this excited me to no end.
While most of the cast does a great job (Aziz Ansari was hilarious as always and his banter with Nick made for some of the more memorable moments in the film), I felt that the 2 best characters were Nick and Dwayne. Dwayne is played by Danny McBride, who does a wonderful performance as a moron who tries to create a scheme that involves killing his A-hole dad (played to perfection by Fred Ward) and using his inheritance to become a millionaire. How does this fit into the bank robbery?? You'll have to see the film for yourself to find out.
Nick is played by Jesse Eisenberg, perfect as the slacker asshole of a main character. He is great fun to watch and immensly easy to root for. It's fun to see him think his way through the problem he's found himself in and use the last few hours he may have to try and fix his somewhat messed up life.
While the script isn't the strongest one I've seen and some jokes fall a wee bit flat, 30 Mins or Less still gains points in it's ability to surprise and thrill audiences (several pretty cool action sequences, and character arcs that go places that are pretty unexpected), and in a market where Hollywood is perfectly content with staying on the beaten path, that makes this film all the more refreshing. 30 Mins or Less is an immensely fun time at the movies that I highly recommend to anyone just looking to have a good time and then some.
3.5/ 5 stars
YES, I didn't go into too much detail and there were several characters I left out in this review. It would be a crime if I spoiled too much of the plot here.
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