30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Stuart B

  
  Good idea but not realised. Also most of the cast where very annoying.

• Nikhil N

  
  This movie is so simple and so stupidly funny, that it is entertaining. I enjoyed every second of it. Despite its very clear flaws the movie's strongest points are also its weakest. The movie is choppy, crude, stupid, random, and I loved it.

• Chris W

  
  Man, what a tremendous disappointment. I had high hopes for it given the cast, concept, and director. I really don't know what went wrong. Sophmore slump, perhaps? Or maybe just decent idea with unfortunate execution. Either way, what could have been a wildly entertaining farce… More
  Man, what a tremendous disappointment. I had high hopes for it given the cast, concept, and director. I really don't know what went wrong. Sophmore slump, perhaps? Or maybe just decent idea with unfortunate execution. Either way, what could have been a wildly entertaining farce is instead an unfunny mess that lacks cohesion. Where to begin: well, let's just run down the synopsis: a goofy, slacker criminal wannabe and his equally underachieving friend decide to have the first guy's dad killed so they can reap the benefits of his inheritance. To make this happen, they hire a hit man. To pay the hit man, they decide to kidnap a pizza delivery boy, strap a bomb vest to him, and force him to rob a bank. If he doesn't do so in 9 hours, he's toast. It's an intriguing set up, but the way it's done sucks. It's not funny (only maybe a couple of jokes work for me, and the trailer was way too spoiler heavy (both on the gags and other things)), it's annoying, obnoxious, ridiculous, and almost all of the characters are unlikeable and poorly developed. The only two characters that actually are half way decent or all that interesting are the two female characters, but they are misused and shortchanged. Go figure. I like the cast, but they don't do anything new or exciting here. Well, okay, I don't like Nick Swardson, and he failed to win me over here. Danny McBride is a great guy, but his typical schtick (on full display here), grew tiresome long ago. Time to change it up man. Eisenberg's whininess would make him more empathetic if he were better developed, and Ansari is way too over the top and abrasive. The film at least moves along at a brisk pace and doesn't waste too much time slacking around, but it is only 82 minutes, so it can't afford not to. However, I think the time should have been better spent, and also the film needed to be a tad longer, ya know, for better plot and character development. The damn thing isn't even really tongue in cheek or tries ot go for satire, two hugely missed opportunities. Since I didn't give it a failing grade, that must mean there are some things I liked. This is true. The opening credits scene is well done, and I loved the fancy, high precision and speedy driving as Eisenberg's pizza boy Nick flies across town (while smoking a joint) trying to make adelivery on time. Fun stuff. Too bad the rest of the film didn't follow suit. I did like the concept, it had some clever ideas, and when the film starts to deal with the craziness of the varioussituations, and miscommunication between the various parties started to the raise the stakes, the film won back some points it lost. However, it was all in vain sicne I didn't really care as much as I should have. This film is a mess. I'm not sad I saw it (not totally since it didn't waste too much of my time), but it just pains me to see such a promising idea and cast and crew I like (well, some of them), come together only to crash and burn.

• Drake T

  
  Not very funny or smart, 30 min or less is a prime example of mediocre, soulless comedy. It's unfortunate to see Eisenberg work on something so poorly conceived but I guess with McBride in the mix you know you're in for a terrible ride of lowbrow. The movie cruises along a… More
  Not very funny or smart, 30 min or less is a prime example of mediocre, soulless comedy. It's unfortunate to see Eisenberg work on something so poorly conceived but I guess with McBride in the mix you know you're in for a terrible ride of lowbrow. The movie cruises along a fine line of slapstick chuckle-gags and petty insults that could have been watchable if the characters had an ounce of emotional substance for us to care about. The core of the film needed better grounding whether it be exploring their frienships, romances, or daddy-issues. Just SOMETHING. Slightly amusing, but overall? A waste of time.

• Bruce B

  
  Not the movie I expected from watching the trailer Aziz Ansari is who makes this movie funny. A pizza delivery guy is captured by two want to be thugs, they strap a bomb to him and force him to rob a bank, more of a teen movie. Not a family film that's for sure, 3 Stars

• Dead A

  
  The fun seemed to me like it was forced. Watchable.

• Phil H

  
  Totally ridiculous farce of a comedy that is more of a guilty pleasure than anything :) Its pretty stupid but admittedly quite amusing in many places, not hilarious but definitely makes you smile. The duo of Eisenberg and Ansari as the bumbling blackmailed robbers is actually a… More
  Totally ridiculous farce of a comedy that is more of a guilty pleasure than anything :) Its pretty stupid but admittedly quite amusing in many places, not hilarious but definitely makes you smile. The duo of Eisenberg and Ansari as the bumbling blackmailed robbers is actually a surprisingly fun pairing that work really well together, the bank robbery is a funny scene and their constant bickering will raise your spirits rest assured. The other winner here is the second duo of McBride and Swardson as the bumbling losers trying to blackmail the other bumbling losers hehe again their dialog is witty and amusing as they talk nonsense getting nowhere fast. Holds together quite well throughout but apart from a few various sequences its nothing that special, the casting is well thought of for sure but the rest is a bit daft, think along the lines of the film 'Nothing To Lose'.

• Reid V

  
  Funny people involved, but feels awkwardly forced and a little too free flowing. I love improv, but when an entire film seems like it was conceived and shot in one day, the viewer feels cheated.

• Sanjay R

  
  A decent movie with a fair amount of laughs. It starts out very slow and the bad acting by everyone besides Eisenberg is hard to get past, but at the end you don't regret sitting through it. It could have been a lot funnier though.

• Lewis C

  
  "And your first thought was to come to a school filled with young children?" 30 Minutes or Less is an oddball action/comedy mishmash that reminds me of Pineapple Express more than anything else (though it's not quite as good or funny). Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari… More
  "And your first thought was to come to a school filled with young children?" 30 Minutes or Less is an oddball action/comedy mishmash that reminds me of Pineapple Express more than anything else (though it's not quite as good or funny). Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari star as a pair of friends who are coerced into robbing a bank, thanks to a bomb and a couple of would-be "criminal masterminds" (Danny McBride ad Nick Swardson) in need of $100,000. The humor comes very rapidly, and each joke, hit or miss, doesn't linger long before the next one comes along. Your own particular sense of humor will largely decide how much you enjoy 30 Minutes or Less, as most of the entertainment comes from the silly, rapid-fire banter between the two protagonist characters and also that between their two bomb-making nemeses. I liked 30 Minutes or Less. It's not perfect, but it kept me laughing. If you're a fan of the usual brand of crude, dark humor that is sort of expected from a movie that Danny McBride plays a big part in, then this'll probably be something you enjoy. And if it turns out to not be your cup of tea, hey, at least it's short.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria, Michael Peña, Bianca Kajlich, Fred Ward, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro Director: Ruben Fleischer Summary: Two small-town criminals (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) planning a big-time bank heist… More
  Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria, Michael Peña, Bianca Kajlich, Fred Ward, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro Director: Ruben Fleischer Summary: Two small-town criminals (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) planning a big-time bank heist wind up abducting pizza delivery driver Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) and forcing him to commit the robbery -- giving him a strict time limit to boot. To pull off the caper, Nick enlists the aid of a former buddy (Aziz Ansari). With the law, the crooks and the clock all breathing down their necks, the duo also try to patch up their troubled friendship in this frenetic action comedy. My Thoughts: "A likeable film, but not one I loved. There just wasn't as many laughs in this movie as I was expecting there to be. Just another raunchy comedy that failed to make the raunchiness funny. I liked the chase scene and some other parts. Not all failed. I thought Aziz Ansari was very funny in his role. Seems like Danny McBride just had these lines in other film. He seems to keep playing the same roles. It's getting boring. In the end it was just an OK comedy."

• Jason C

  
  This is exactly the kind of comedy that I enjoy. Let's just get one thing straight. You can stick Danny McBride in any movie, have him act like an arrogant asshole, and immediately create entertainment value. McBride is a genius, and really, there wasn't a character in… More
  This is exactly the kind of comedy that I enjoy. Let's just get one thing straight. You can stick Danny McBride in any movie, have him act like an arrogant asshole, and immediately create entertainment value. McBride is a genius, and really, there wasn't a character in the entire film that wasn't enjoyable. 30 Minutes or Less is crude, politically incorrect, creative, and I laughed my ass off through the whole movie. What else do you need?

• Luke B

  
  30 Minutes or Less takes a rather dark and yet funny premise, but then plays it more like an action movie. Eisenberg is strapped with a bomb and is told to rob a bank. What's quite peculiar about this film is that it focuses so much on the Danny McBride character. It seems as… More
  30 Minutes or Less takes a rather dark and yet funny premise, but then plays it more like an action movie. Eisenberg is strapped with a bomb and is told to rob a bank. What's quite peculiar about this film is that it focuses so much on the Danny McBride character. It seems as though they are trying to put some development around him, but there is nothing to like about him. He's lazy, crude, stupid, and dangerous. Aziz Ansari is just difficult to watch. He has no comic timing, and can only express his lines in one tone of voice. The heist itself is a great watch, and I loved how the pacing kept the movie going. It wasn't just a large number of failed robberies. The movie kept on moving towards the finale. I don't think I had a genuine laugh here, but I was never bored and the short running time worked in its favour. Despite the enjoyment factor, I never once believed the bomb was close to going off, removing any tension.

• Melvin W

  
  Travis: If wanting a lot of money is gay, then, yeah, I'm Elton John.  "It's Good To Have Friends..." Ruben Fliescher and Jesse Eisenberg re-team after Zombieland and make 30 Minutes or Less, which isn't quite Zombieland quality, but is still a pretty good… More
  Travis: If wanting a lot of money is gay, then, yeah, I'm Elton John.  "It's Good To Have Friends..." Ruben Fliescher and Jesse Eisenberg re-team after Zombieland and make 30 Minutes or Less, which isn't quite Zombieland quality, but is still a pretty good second collaboration from the two. Eisenberg, over the last 5 years or so, has become one of my favorite young actors. I try to watch everything he does, even little movies like Holy Rollers. Eisenberg gives a different type of performance here. He goes away from his usual nerdy guy and becomes a loser who is actually pretty badass. Two losers who are trying to hit it big decide to hire a hit man to kill one of their rich fathers. In order to pay the hit man they need $100,000. So now the question is how are they going to come up with this money? They decide to force someone to rob a bank for them. This is where Nick comes in. He delivers a pizza to the schemers and they jump him and strap a bomb to his chest. Now he has ten hours to get them the money or.... BOOM! I am not going to lie and say the movie is exceptional, but it is highly entertaining and extremely funny. At lest I thought so, but it seems like I am in the minority. A lot of my love for the movie comes from my love for the cast. The big four, Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson and Danny McBride are all hilarious to me. Ansari always makes me laugh, as does McBride. Swardson is funny as long as he isn't starring in some stupid Adam Sandler movie. 30 Minutes or Less is my favorite comedy I have seen this year. It hasn't been too great a year for comedies though, so maybe I am overrating this a little because I'm happy I finally saw a comedy I really liked. Fliescher is two for two in book. As for Jesse Eisenberg, he is like fifteen for fifteen.

• MisterYoda ?

  
  three stars

• Manu G

  
  Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else... Good hilarious movie! If you have a good sense of humor you will laugh alot in this film. I simply wouldn't mind at all watching it… More
  Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else... Good hilarious movie! If you have a good sense of humor you will laugh alot in this film. I simply wouldn't mind at all watching it again, it's that funny so enjoy! Stay after the credits for another scene. The film opens with a beat-up old blue Mustang flying through the air, as its driver launches it at high-speed through a neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) works for Vito's Pizza, which has a strict 30-minutes-or-less delivery policy... which means either Nick makes it to the customer's door in half an hour or he has to pay for the pizza himself. There's a timer in the shape of a tiny, stereotypical Italian chef ticking away on his dashboard as Nick races through Grand Rapids, his stereo blaring, past kids playing in parks and other people trying to go about their days with this madman driving on the roads. Nick makes it to his destination, two towns away from Vito's Pizza, in 34 minutes... four minutes late. Two stoned teenagers answer the door, proud of themselves for gaming the system and getting another pizza free. Nick confronts them, telling them the pie's going to come out of his own pocket, but they don't care. "That's why we order your crappy pizza", they say, "because you can't ever get here in time". Nick decides to scam the scammers by telling them he can get them beer if they give him the money their mom gave them for the pizza. The kids have no idea what they are doing, but think it would be cool to have beer, and Nick tells asks them, "You like O'Doules, right?". Clueless, the kids say, "Hell yah, we're totally down with that shit". Nick is dejected with his life and heads home, where he drinks real beer (not O'Doules) on his porch waiting for his friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) to get home from a date. Chet's actually sitting in a parked car outside, where his date is performing oral sex on him from the passenger seat. She finishes what she's doing and then quickly moves to kiss him, in a gross-out scene where Chet "tastes himself", as Nick (who has been watching) puts it later. "Do you want some beer to wash the taste of yourself out of your mouth?", Nick asks Chet when he finally walks over. Nick is a big movie fan and has DVDs of the Lethal Weapon series for Chet and him to watch, but Chet says he's tired and has to work tomorrow. Nick tells him to just call-in sick, "like the real teachers do", because Chet's a substitute teacher. "You know they made me a real teacher a few months ago. You gave me a laser pointer as a congratulations gift," Chet scolds Nick, telling him that he's an adult with a career now and can't stay up all night watching old action movies and drinking beer with his pizza delivering friend. The next day, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and his dimwit sidekick Travis (Nick Swardson) are target-shooting watermelons in an old scrap yard. Dwayne purports to be a major player and educates Travis about all the "pussy" he has gotten, knows about, and obsesses over in general. Travis hangs on every word. Though both are numb skulls, Dwayne is the leader and Travis is the even dimmer follower. The two use crossbows, detonators, and other weapons to blow up the watermelons, with Travis being a kind of idiot savant when it comes to explosives. Dwayne and Travis have been friends since childhood, and though in their mid to late 30s they still behave like immature teenagers. Back at Dwayne's father's house, the two watch "Friday the 13th: 3D" where Dwayne starts heckling Jason Vorhees on the screen, as if characters in the film can hear him. Travis follows Dwayne's lead, like always, and the two jump up from their seats pretending they are anal-raping Jason and "teaching him what good pussy" is, whatever that means. As they're carrying on with these pantomimes, Dwayne's father "The Major" (Fred Ward) walks in, berating Dwayne and his friend for acting so stupid and sexual together. The Major is a retired United States Marine with little tolerance for his ne'er do well son's antics. The Major repeatedly calls his son a "faggot" and alludes to something more than friendship between Dwayne and Travis, since the two of them spend so much time together and The Major evidently catches them in weird situations like this quite a bit. It's revealed The Major won a $10 million lottery prize in 1998, which funds an opulent lifestyle for him... and supports unemployed Dwayne. The Major's house is filled with all sorts of high tech gadgets, along with a driveway full of expensive trucks with hyper-patriotic American flag/eagle airbrushed detailing. Dwayne is jealous of his father's money and wants to get control of what's left from the lottery winnings before The Major spends it all on more trucks. Meanwhile, Nick appears to be on another Vito's pizza run but instead is heading to visit Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria), who works at some sort of event planning/catering company. Kate is Chet's twin sister. Nick has harbored a romantic interest in her for some time. While they are talking, Kate tells Nick that a classmate of theirs from high school, Tom Smalls, has just come out on Facebook as gay. (Since the actor Jesse Eisenberg was in "The Social Network" movie portraying Facebook's founder, this is one of a few in-jokes in the film). Kate tells Nick she has been offered a job with the Four Seasons hotel chain, to take a management training position in the special events department of an Atlanta hotel. Nick clearly does not want Kate to move to Atlanta, so he tells her bad things he's heard about "Hot-lanta" from various rap songs. He tells Kate he will make her a mixed CD of these raps to prove it to her. Across town, in a sleazy strip club, Dwayne's bought a lap dance from a stripper named Juicy (Bianca Kajlich), who soon realizes that Dwayne's father has a few million dollars. Juicy talks Dwayne into hiring an "assassin" she knows from Detroit who will kill his father so Dwayne can inherit his money... and presumably give Juicy a large cut. Juicy bares her large breasts to him, telling Dwayne he can be king and have her as his "scepter polisher". The tiny hamster inside Dwayne's head starts to spin in its wheel. At Chet's apartment, Nick tells his friend he does not want Kate to move to Atlanta. Chet tells Nick to leave his sister alone, and that she's an adult pursuing her career, unlike Nick who is just a pizza delivery boy in his late 20s. Chet reminds Nick that he ate a Lunchables for dinner the night before, so he can't discourage anyone from being an adult when he's never tried it himself. The two friends then engage in a pissing contest trying to one up each other by revealing bad things they did to each other. Nick did sexual things with a girl Chet liked. Chet told everyone in town that Nick's mother had sex with a life guard at the community pool (which then caused Nick's parents to divorce after Nick's dad was cuckolded and his mother was branded the town slut). Nick tells Chet he had sex with his twin sister Kate after prom, but Chet argues that Nick said he'd slept with some other girl... Nick says he only changed the girl's name, but that everything else he told him about the sex was true. Chet is horrified. Nick pushes it by asking, since the two are twins, if Chet felt it when Nick was having sex with Kate. The two friends then wrestle around on the floor for dominance, upset with each other. Chet puts Nick into a sleeper hold, upset with him for deflowering his twin sister. Back at The Major's mansion, Dwayne and Travis are cleaning the pool for $10 an hour. Dwayne believes he sleeps late and has no job because his dreams are too big to allow him to do anything else. He has many delusions of grandeur, including schemes for various businesses that will make him rich, if only he had the seed money to get them going (such as a Chinese restaurant or an abortion clinic). He also wants to open a tanning salon that would really be a front for a brothel, where various code words would be used by men looking for prostitutes. There would be regular tanning as well, but a "Deluxe Tan" would mean a man wanted oral sex after his irradiation. Travis, of course, thinks Dwayne is a genius. The Major, however, thinks his son's an idiot and pops in to check on his pool cleaning work. Dwayne resents his father and tells Travis of the plan to hire an assassin to kill him... something Travis is disturbingly very quick to agree to. Dwayne tells Travis that it will cost $100,000 to hire the assassin and that they need to start thinking like millionaires...since once he gets that $100,000 and hires someone to kill his father, he will inherit the millions and will "own the whole town". Dwayne and Travis hole up in Travis' garage where they continue to plot ways to get the $100,000 for the assassin. Dwayne entertains the fantasy of finding a woman who he can have sex with on camera, and then force to have sex with all sorts of other men on camera, so they can blackmail her husband and force him to rob a bank for them. But the two decide they don't know any married women who are "slutty enough" for that. Dwayne wants to use hypnotism to force a man to rob a bank for them, but Travis reminds Dwayne how adroit he is manufacturing explosives, so the two decide to find someone, strap a bomb to him, and force him to rob a bank if he wants to live. While they are trying to decide what sort of guy they could lure into this trap, a commercial for Vito's Pizza airs and Dwayne decides to use a pizza delivery guy as his patsy. Dwayne says that Fate's fat cock has slapped him in the face. At the scrap yard from earlier in the film, which is super creepy at night. Nick was supposed to be off work, but Vito (Brett Gelman) made him take one last pizza run. Nick makes it to the scrap yard 15 minutes late and is worried he will have to pay for another late order. When he knocks on a derelict trailer to deliver the pie, Dwayne answers in a creepy gorilla mask. Nick's nervous, and tries backing away but Travis (in a very Planet of the Apes chimpanzee mask) knocks him over the head until he passes out. Nick's screaming RAPE! the whole time. When he comes to, it's daylight and Dwayne and Travis have strapped a bomb to his chest. Nick tries calling for help, but the scrap yard is very isolated and Dwayne tells him he'd have a better chance of someone hearing him in outer space. The bomb's made with C-4 explosives wired to a remote detonator that is activated with a cellphone. There's a lock on the front with a 6-digit combination, which Dwayne says he'll give Nick when Nick delivers him $100,000. The bomb has a large yellow smiley face on the front. Nick tells them he can sell his car and get maybe $1,000, but that he does not have any idea how he can get $100,000. Dwayne tells him to just rob a bank. And that he has 10 hours until the bomb explodes so he better move quickly. To demonstrate the bomb, Dwayne detonates a similar vest that Travis rigged to a teddy bear. After it explodes, he tells Nick, "I liked that bear, and I don't even know you, so you better hurry". Nick's told the pair will be watching him and if he goes to the police they will dial the code and make him explode like the bear. Nick burns rubber peeling out of the scrap yard, off to rob a bank and do whatever they say. Nick heads to the school where Chet works and interrupts his teaching. Chet's scolding a boy who has been texting in class, by reading the boy's text about liking a girl named Lisa. "This Lisa? Over here? She's too good for you. Stop texting in my class," he tells the boy, just as Nick barges in. Outside in the hallway Nick shows Chet the bomb and Chet says, "So two dudes kidnap you and strap a bomb to your chest and the first place you think to go is an elementary school filled with children?". Nick begs Chet to help him and Chet ultimately agrees, because he says he does not want this to affect his future relationships...like one day he would be with his wife and kids and he'd be sorry he "let that guy I knew blow up" when he could have helped. Chet makes Nick promise him that if he helps him with this that he will leave his sister alone and not talk to Kate again. The two leave the school to figure out a way to get the bomb vest off Nick. Meanwhile, Juicy the stripper meets with her "assassin" from Detroit, a Mexican named Changa who calls himself "Sugarmilk" (Michael Pena) and is covered with tattoos. Changa agrees to kill The Major and Juicy tells him arrangements have been made to get him his $100,000 for the hit. Juicy and Changa have a romantic relationship and have sex in his car apparently. Back at Chet's apartment. Chet's been looking up ways to disarm the bomb on Wikipedia, with little luck. Various movies like Hurt Locker and Point Break are referenced, as the two friends try thinking about anything they've ever seen on film that could help them either disarm the bomb or rob a bank to get the $100,000. Ultimately, they decide to rob the bank and Nick tells Chet they should hit the bank that's near the Olive Garden in a shopping center. They proceed to a Family Dollar store to get bank robbing supplies. Dwayne and Travis are watching them, and sit outside in a car listening to a mixed tape while Nick and Chet buy their supplies. Dwayne keeps talking about his tanning salon/brothel idea and the two talk about various specials they would offer, like a "Tanny Glover", which would be the code word for sex with a black female prostitute after buying a tan. Dwayne tells Travis that he will be working the front desk at the tanning salon, but Travis does not think it's an important enough job, though Dwayne reassures him it's important because Travis would be the one keeping track of the code words and what various people want in terms of prostitutes. There's actually a vacant storefront next to the Family Dollar store that Dwayne thinks would be perfect for the salon/brothel. The woman working checkout in Family Dollar asks Nick and Chet if they are buying rape kits, since they're purchasing fake guns and ski masks along with other odd items. Chet's also getting a hamburger sliders kit, so he tells the checkout woman she's crazy, and that they just love sliders and skiing. The woman tells them they better get some condoms too if they are going to be raping anyone. After they leave the store, Chet's spray-painting the toy guns black so they look more real, and Nick tells him not to spray that paint inside his car. "This car looks like a Mustang that got AIDS and died of cancer", Chet says, and the two have a fight over how pathetic Nick's car is. They then decide to steal the red Dotson owned by Chet's parents' neighbors, the Fishers, because they need a fast getaway vehicle. They drive over to the Fishers house and are looking for the keys to the car in the garage when Mr. Fisher walks in on them. The two know the Fishers' son Dylan works at a travel agency, is "a douche", and has "bad bangs". They tell Mr. Fisher that if he doesn't cooperate, they will come after Dylan. Wearing their masks and brandishing their fake guns, they rob him of his keys and steal the car, with Chet politely saying "Thank you" and "Goodbye Mr. Fisher" afterwards...which is something Chet does throughout the various crimes the two will commit all day. Chet is worried he was recognized because there are only four Indian families in Grand Rapids and he realizes his brown skin and hands were visible through the robbers' disguise. Nick claims he wants to make a quick stop and quit his pizza delivery job before they rob the bank, and Chet argues with him in the car that they don't have time to be running errands like this, and if they did have time like that they should stop for breakfast or maybe lunch because Chet is hungry. Nick gets his way and they drive to Vito's Pizza where Nick slips inside, quits, and then races out the back door. Nick actually runs down the street to where Kate works while Chet thinks he's still inside Vito's. Nick takes Kate onto the roof of her building and tells her that he's never forgotten the night they had sex and that he has feelings for her, then he rushes away. Nick doesn't realize it, but Travis was following him the whole time, and was pretending to be a maintenance man working on the banister in the stairwell when Nick ran by him. Travis reports back to Dwayne on his cellphone that Nick came to visit this girl (important later). Nick races back to the car and finds Chet inside eating hamburgers and drinking 5-Hour-Energy drinks. The two decide to pretend to be Hispanic criminals when they burst into the bank to rob it. Nick will be "Cruz" and Chet will be "Luiz" when they're inside the bank. When they burst in, the bank is filled with very nice Midwestern people who are surprisingly helpful during the holdup. Nick and Chet get them all onto the floor and work with a bank employee named Sandra to get $100,000 into a bag. Sandra had to go into the vault to get the money, which broke a rule Nick and Chet learned from the movie Point Break, which said to never worry about the vault and instead just focus on whatever money was in the teller drawers. Sandra slips a blue dye bomb back into the money, per bank policy. In all the commotion, a security guard's gun accidentally goes off and shoots a man in the leg. Nick feels bad about this and decides to peel off some money and give it to the man. When he does so, the blue dye explodes in the man's face. Nick and Chet are upset with Sandra, and tell her to get a new pack of money out of the vault... this time with no blue dye in it. Sandra retrieves a new bag... but what Nick and Chet don't realize is that the blue dye packs are in ALL the money (important later). The bank's alarm goes off and Nick and Chet flee the bank, stopped outside by a cop who pulls a gun on them. Chet opens his coat to show his bomb, telling the cop, "Looks like you brought a gun to a bomb fight". The cop takes one look at the bomb and runs away crying. Nick and Chet escape in the Dotson and engage in a high speed police chase set to the 80s song "The Heat is On". Nick uses his pizza delivery driving skills to evade the cop cars, zooming in and out of traffic, and getting a cop car or two totaled at intersections when Nick guns it through red lights. Nick attempts to do a 180 turn to throw the cops off, but spins too much and ends up doing a full 360, defeating his purpose. Finally, Nick and Chet are wrecked when a cop car smashes into them. They escape the scene of the crash on foot, with Chet wounded by car shrapnel, and the two calmly walk onto a bus to get away. Dwayne and Travis arrive at the scene and join passersby who are videotaping the wreckage for YouTube, pleased that Nick has actually pulled off the robbery. Walking down a suburban street to reclaim Nick's Mustang, Nick and Chet recount their bank robbery adventure the way two male friends would retell some exploit in a bar or what they did in a big game, with each embellishing things they said or did. Neither of them show any concern at all for all the crimes they just committed. The next step is for Nick to call Dwayne and arrange a pickup of the money -- where Nick essentially buys the 6-digit code that will unlock the bomb on his chest. Dwayne's waiting for the call at a cheap Mexican restaurant called Taco Boy. Dwayne calls Juicy on his cell and tells her the money is coming, and arranges for Juicy and Changa to meet Nick at an abandoned bridge somewhere in just a few minutes. Dwayne revels in more fantasies about owning his tanning salon/brothel, as Travis starts to feel bad about what they have done, now that he realizes Dwayne wants to kill Nick by detonating the bomb after they've got the money. Travis believed Nick would go free once this was all over. When Dwayne gets up to use the bathroom, Travis disables the bomb via remote by switching the cell phone numbers...so if Dwayne tries to deactivate the bomb, he will call the wrong number and nothing will happen. Nick's waiting at the bridge when Changa and Juicy show up. Chet's hiding somewhere off screen. Nick gives Changa the money and asks for the code to deactivate the bomb but Changa doesn't have it... since Dwayne had no intention of deactivating the bomb. A fight ensues, with Chet joining in to smack Changa upside the head, before Chet and Juicy tussle. Nick and Chet leave, with Chet calling them "bad people". Changa is furious and tells Dwayne that he is now going to assassinate Dwayne, since he does not have the $100,000 anymore because Nick and Chet took it back after they fought with Changa and Juicy. Dwayne is terrified that the assassin is now coming after him. Nick realizes that Dwayne had no intention of giving him the code, and when he talks to Dwayne on the phone the power shifts between them since Nick also realizes that Dwayne can't push the button to kill him since Dwayne would destroy all the money too. "At least I will die a rich man," Nick says. Travis is giving Dwayne a haircut while all of this is going down, with Dwayne now insisting that the FBI, CIA, and NASA are going to be coming for him. He wants to just blow Nick up anyway, and dials the number on the phone only to have Moviefone answer. Travis then explains he switched the number at Taco Boy because he couldn't believe Dwayne would kill Nick. Travis then tells Dwayne about Kate, and how she is a way to get the money back from Nick without killing anyone. All they have to do is kidnap her. Dwayne and Travis then rush to do this, while avoiding Changa who wants to kill Dwayne. The Major is in his mansion watching the 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', and enjoying himself, when Changa breaks in to assassinate Dwayne. The Major picks up a pen gun and moves stealthily through his house, using his Marines training. We see the giant $10 million lottery check that The Major won in 1998 framed and hanging on a wall as The Major moves through is home, ultimately shooting Changa in the neck... before Changa gets on top of him and shoots him in the stomach. The Major tells Changa he is not afraid of death and "will ride you all the way to Hell, because I know the way" as the two men fight. The Major would not tell Changa where Dwayne was, though he was not surprised that Dwayne had tried to hire Changa to kill The Major. The Major still protected his son, even after his son betrayed him. Changa leaves The Major wounded and bleeding from his stomach onto the floor and heads to the bathroom to pour alcohol over his wound, telling himself in the mirror that he's a pimp and needs to be tough. Changa then searches the house for clues to where Dwayne may be and ends up finding a crudely drawn map (like a small child made it) of the scrap yard that Dwayne and Travis use for their antics. Back at the scrap yard, Dwayne and Travis are heading there with kidnapped Kate, while Nick and Chet are driving there to deliver the money and rescue her. Nick produces the cash and Dwayne gives him the code...696969, which Dwayne reveals to be his favorite sexual position. There's now just 4 minutes and 9 seconds before the bomb explodes. Dwayne's wearing his gorilla mask again and Travis is dressed up as the chimp, but this time he's also wearing a flamethrower on his back that makes him look like a Ghostbuster on the Planet of the Apes. Nick gains the upper hand by claiming he has a sniper hidden somewhere who will shoot Dwayne and Travis. They don't believe him, but a red dot appears on Dwayne's forehead, which Travis says "looks like that dot on her people's heads", making a racist joke at the expense of Kate, who is Indian like her brother Chet. It's shown the sniper is actually Chet, using the laser pointer that Nick bought him when he was made a real teacher and not just a substitute (remember the throwaway line delivered about this earlier in the film). Chet moves the laser pointer lower so that it appears the sniper is going to shoot Dwayne in the chest if he does not release Kate. Changa arrives and declares himself to be "the Satanic Hispanic" and punches Nick in the face in retribution for the attack Chet made on him earlier in the day. Then Changa turns his attention to Dwayne and fires his gun at him. Travis fires up the flamethrower next and scorches Changa, burning him to a crisp. Changa gets one last shot off, however, and punctures the tank on Travis' back, making the flamethrower explode. In this melee, Chet grabs Kate as Nick ducks away to grab the money and place the bomb vest into Dwayne's car after resetting the timer to explode. Changa dies. Travis lives. Dwayne gets in the car to chase down Nick, Chet, and Kate and get the $100,000 back. Since Nick knows the bomb is about to explode, he maneuvers his Mustang to avoid the blast. Dwayne's car catches fire and flips off the road with him still inside. As they drive away, Nick, Chet, and Kate then start thinking about what they could do with all that stolen bank money. When Kate starts flipping through the stacks of bills, the blue dye explodes in their faces and all over the car. THE END As the credits roll, there is a quick commercial for "Major Tan"... the tanning salon/brothel that it appears Dwayne, Travis, and The Major opened next to the Family Dollar Store. A bevy of bikini clad prostitutes vamp it up in the commercial, as Dwayne lets viewers know it's both a tanning salon and a place for men to get oral sex from a variety of women... including a "Menage a Tan" where two women would service one man. (Apparently, this bit was part of the original ending of the film...which was supposed to include an epilogue showing what happened to all the various characters. The Major is now in a wheelchair because of his bullet wound and Dwayne and Travis appear unscathed by everything that happened. After this commercial ends, the film is completely over and it fades to black.)

• Al S

  
  An outragious tribute to the classic buddy action-comedies of the 80`s and 90`s. A wildly entertaining and fast-paced comedy filled with silly energy thats enough to keep you amused. Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari are hilarious together, they bring out such a funny and explosive… More
  An outragious tribute to the classic buddy action-comedies of the 80`s and 90`s. A wildly entertaining and fast-paced comedy filled with silly energy thats enough to keep you amused. Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari are hilarious together, they bring out such a funny and explosive chemistry that could only be done by actors like them. It`s just aot of fun.

• Matt G

  
  Nick: You just brought a gun to a bomb fight, officer! 30 Minutes or Less is a great film, quite funny, actually. It feels pretty great to sit through a movie that is so sweet, funny, and most importantly: short, at a mere hour and twenty minutes, this film succeeds in everything you… More
  Nick: You just brought a gun to a bomb fight, officer! 30 Minutes or Less is a great film, quite funny, actually. It feels pretty great to sit through a movie that is so sweet, funny, and most importantly: short, at a mere hour and twenty minutes, this film succeeds in everything you could possibly want from a simple summer comedy blast, and c'mon, who can't resist a cast boasting the likes of talented actors such as Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride and the surprisingly funny Nick Swardson? So what I'm trying to say, is that if you like comedies, or if you liked Zombieland, then 30 Minutes or Less is the film for you! Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a totally drugged out, lazy slacker, and living a pretty miserable and embarrassing life. He delivers pizzas in a corny delivery car for a living. Nick psychotic roommate Chet (Aziz Ansari) has just started teaching in an elementary school. On the last delivery of the night, Nick gets tricked and attacked by two wannabe- criminals, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). After a bunch of negotiating and threatening, they strap a bomb to Nick's chest, and give him ten hours to rob a bank and bring the money back to them or he'll explode. So now Nick, along with his buddy Chet, go on the craziest adventure of their lives. I think reaction shots play a key role when making a solid comedy. In 30 Minutes or Less, reaction shots are the key to a large portion of the comedy, primarily Ansari's many hilarious states of emotion, which are used quite brilliantly in the film's second act, playing perfectly to his character. The film is additionally well shot and well-edited, backed up by an extremely funny script written by fresh master of comedy Michael Diliberti, with flawless direction from Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), who is one of the best working comedic directors in Hollywood. Fleischer and Eisenberg seem to make quite a bang-up team, as was shown in Zombieland. Perhaps they will team up for a third film together, I would not mind that one bit. Here, we have a superb cast that consists of hotshot Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg, Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari, and funny men Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, who are just plain brilliant as the villainous duo. You would think that having a cast like this wouldn't work with a movie like this, but it is just the opposite, the actors don't overexpose there performances to a level of annoyance nor do they try too hard, which makes it the perfect viewing experience. Unlike recent comedies, this film is not a cameo-dependent film, which is a bit disappointing due to the fact that I would have loved a little part with Zombieland star Woody Harrelson, but hey, we can't have it all. Ultimately, these actors' portrayals of their zany characters aren't Oscar-worthy performances, but these guys are still pretty damn funny! I've been going on and on about how hilarious this movie is, that I forgot to mention how impressive the film is in terms of pure kinetic energy, and well-made action sequences, most notably the car chases. There is a scene in particular, where Nick and Chet are escaping the cops, which in a nutshell, is just plain ridiculous, unrealistic, and insane. But man, was it cool to watch them get hit by a 10 ft. truck, screaming at the top of their lungs with their mouths wide open, sliding across the street, heading towards the camera, all done in a very unrealistic, crazy, but wildly entertaining and well-made fashion that pleased me. All in all, these action sequences are immensely entertaining and well-done. I personally was really impressed, aside from the brilliant comedy and great performances, by the films impression of basically giving the audience what they want, which is why I was more than pleased by this film's incredibly short running time. Some comedies nowadays go for maybe an hour and forty minutes, which gets absolutely repetitive and ridiculous, including repetition and dry jokes, but this one knows how what to do and succeeds in keeping it short and sweet at a mere hour and twenty minutes. Take a note, you three-hour comedy directors, less is more, and that's precisely what I got with this film. But by no means does this put it down standard wise, it actually sends a message that we need more films like 30 Minutes or Less! Much of the films charisma is benefited by the cast. As I previously mentioned in an older review, it is a whole lot of fun getting to see specific actors getting into some sort of wacky antics, which is robbing a bank in this case. Eisenberg and Ansari reminded me of the other mismatched friendship of Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in Todd Philips 'Due Date'. As I mentioned, Ansari is simply a hilarious actor, who I believe is the king at delivering great one-liners and is just a very likeable character-actor in general. Eisenberg has always played the shy type (Adventureland, Zombieland), though in this film, he plays quite a wild type, being a pizza-man who, according to Ansari's character in a pivotal scene in the film: "Get's high and delivers pizza." Put these two together, and you have a funny treat that plays as a 'Azizenberger'. I know I'll have a second helping! Furthermore, this cast is benefited by the two actors portraying the ingenious villains. While the characters are certainly uneven, and quite ridiculous at some points, they are nevertheless a very great addition to an all-star cast. I've been a fan of Danny McBride ever since I saw him in Pineapple Express. Shortly after, McBride started appearing in greats such as Tropic Thunder, Up in the Air, and even has a small role in Due Date. I am also a fan of his HBO program 'Eastbound and Down'. So, yes; I am a pretty big fan of his. The second villain in the movie is played by Nick Swardson, who is a hit-or-miss actor. This is Swardson's first film not apart of Happy Madison, and I don't usually find him funny, except for You Don't Mess With The Zohan and now, 30 Minutes or Less. I was pleasantly surprised by these two and I believe if they stick to films like this, they can have a bright future in the film industry. Of the little-to-no aspects of this film that annoyed me, I do have one strikingly detrimental flaw that I will dissect, which is the sudden shift of tone in the third act. The film's tone becomes incredibly uneven and uncoordinated, confusing the audience enough to make it noticeable. To my surprise, this was the same and only gripe I had with Zombieland, and even though this was quite a distinct change that changed the outlook of the entire movie for me, it was by far not enough to ruin it for me. Regardless, my final outlook of the film is benefited by our outstandingly jaw-droppingly hilarious leads and a consistently funny script that had the tendency to save any and all flaws that the film has to offer. This summer we have been gifted with a handful of truly side-splittingly original, R-rated comedies that include the always funny Horrible Bosses, the memorable Hangover Part II, and the acceptable and average Bad Teacher. 30 Minutes or Less is right between Horrible and Hangover, being a very bright and fresh comedy, with brilliant direction from Ruben Fleischer and great performances from Eisenberg, Ansari, McBride, and Swardson. This is great summer fun, and I highly recommend this great comedy.

• Mike S

  
  Car chases, a robbery, Nick Swardson going nuts with a flame thrower. This movie sure has a lot going for itself when it comes to the action. But does it hold up in its more vital area, the humor department? Well, thankfully, I'm happy to say it does. Sure, some of the jokes… More
  Car chases, a robbery, Nick Swardson going nuts with a flame thrower. This movie sure has a lot going for itself when it comes to the action. But does it hold up in its more vital area, the humor department? Well, thankfully, I'm happy to say it does. Sure, some of the jokes tends to a lean bit towards the lame. But on the whole, it's sidesplittingly funny. Much like in Ruben Fleischer's previous film, <i>Zombieland</i>, the quality of the comedy is consistently high. Maybe not quite as memorable as said zombie gem, but very entertaining nonetheless. Many will surely be put off by all the finger-flipping and F-words, but if you can't handle such profanity, you have no business watching a movie like this in the first place. Because this delivers exactly what the trailer promised, along with heaps of great gags that gave my smile-muscles a proper workout. There's also this wonderful money shot, where they escape from the robbery with cops on their tail, to the nostalgic beats of Glenn Frey's "The Heat is On". Very <i>Beverly Hills Cop</i>-ish and just one of those neat little touches that propels it above the median. Add to that a cast that consists of some of the new generation's prime comedic talents, and you're in for a ride that not only entertains to the fullest extent, but also leaves you with a desire to watch it again.

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"Guess what? You just brought a gun to a bombfight, officer!"</i> Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else... <center><font size=+2… More
  <i>"Guess what? You just brought a gun to a bombfight, officer!"</i> Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else... <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Dumb and dumber buddies (imbeciles McBride and Swardson not exactly a stretch for either) hatch a hare-brained scheme to conduct a murder-for-hire by abducting a pizza delivery driver (Eisenberg) and strapping him with a bomb to rob a bank for the necessary funds. Very loosely based on a real-life incident (with decidedly more grim results) this goofball action comedy has its moments primarily between the on screen odd-coupling of twitchy/brainy Eisenberg and his best bud Ansari bringing the sharp sarcasm and the Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dumb rapport between McBride and Swardson (the former coasting on his 14th minute of fame for his increasingly boorish, obnoxious persona; not much of a stretch here!). While director Ruben Fleischer keeps things on a laugh/bam-thank-you-ma'am even keel the script by Michael Diliberti & Michael Sullivan runs on fumes. I am recommending the movie for two reasons. One, because it held my attention effectively for the better part of an hour and a half, because I was grinning for a very good reason. Because of the wit and energy that director Ruben Fleischer and his screenwriter, Michael Diliberti were using to satirize just about everything in contemporary American culture. They attack it all. Underage drinking, lack of respect towards abstinence, high-mindedness in the younger generation, even elements of consumerism such as Netflix (as when Aziz Ansari, as Mr. Eisenberg's roommate, gripes that he's paid twelve dollars for three movies that he has not watched in an entire month). Another element it picks at is a typical human characteristic: the desire to blame somebody else, which comes into the most effective play during the bank robbery that the plot revolves around.

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