30 MINUTES OR LESS
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
"30 Minutes or Less" is a visceral, vulgar thrill ride of a slacker comedy, imbued with a touch of violence though not as torturously tedious or unsettling as "Pineapple Express." At least in this comedy, the humor is higher than the body count.
Based on the grim true story of an Erie, Pa. pizza delivery man who was strapped with a real bomb to rob a bank, Jesse Eisenberg plays the hapless pizza delivery guy, Nick, whose best friend, Chet (hilarious Aziz Ansari), is flummoxed that Nick would sleep with his sister. Bigger obstacles are headed their way when Nick delivers pizza to a junkyard address and is coerced by two nitwit slackers (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) to rob a bank. The catch is that Nick is to be strapped with a homemade bomb that will explode if Nick doesn't comply with their demands. With the time release of the bomb in question, Nick needs a crime partner and who better than Chet?
The two slacker losers who dream up this ridiculous bank robbery are Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). They both clean the pool belonging to Dwayne's Marine father, the Major (Fred Ward), who won the lottery years earlier and spends his money on luxury gifts. Dwayne is told by a lap dancer named Juicy (Bianca Kajlich) that she can help Dwayne murder his father to collect the winnings by hiring a contract killer from Detroit (Michael Pena). Dwayne's dream is to open a tanning salon/massage parlor though his equally stupid accomplice, Travis, thinks an abortion clinic might be a good moneymaker.
Yes, this is the latest in what I would like to call "Slack Torture Porn." These are movies that are filled with plot twists and center on pot-smoking slackers who redefine their manhood (or maybe just their laziness) by robbing and killing people. "Pineapple Express" was a clumsy and profanely unfunny take on Cheech and Chong (if that is possible) that upped the ante on gratuitous and sickeningly blood-drenched violence. The film was so awfully violent that the humor was lost completely. Thankfully, "30 Minutes or Less" is funnier and not as violence-proned (though the plot might make some queasy). The Nick and Chet characters are so engaging to watch that I would have watched them in any sort of story, so why did it have to be about a bomb-strapped Nick forced to commit bank robbery? An excuse for some action and a car chase perhaps.
I laughed many times through this movie but the final fifteen minutes are overbaked and chock full of one too many coincidences after another (though I did like the car chase to the tune of "The Heat is On" and a laser pointer is put to good use). A scene between the marine and the hired killer feels extraneous and could have been more imaginatively handled. Still, Eisenberg and Ansari make a good team and I would not scoff at seeing them reappear in another movie.
Actress Sarah Polley once commented that Quentin Tarantino and his irony-fueled tales of pulp fiction extremes ruined Generation X. I disagree, I think the Tarantino imitators ruined it, imbuing graphic violence with fake irony. Now slacker comedies forgo comedy for ironic and graphic violence. As I said, "30 Minutes or Less" is not heavy on violence - it is breezier and pokes a little fun at itself. I would have liked more surprise in its plot and it is possible that Slack Torture Porn may reach an end sooner than expected, but this one is better than most.
