30 Minutes Or Less

A layabout unemployed loser (Danny McBride) is in line to inherit his father's millions and wants to speed things up. In order to hire a hitman (Michael Pena), he needs $100,000 so, along with his friend, a moronic explosives expert (Nick Swardson), he kidnaps a pizza delivery driver (Jesse Eisenberg), straps a bomb to his chest, and gives him nine hours to rob a bank before it detonates. The driver, an intelligent slacker, enlists the help of his best friend (Aziz Ansari) whom he's just had a falling out with, and the two try to figure out just how to get out of the explosive predicament they're in. "30 Minutes or Less" reunites "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer with Eisenberg and should have been more fun. After some initial laughs the movie turns into frenetic action picture and it seems to lose its sense of humor. I've always found Eisenberg to be an interesting actor ever since I noticed him in the underappreciated masterpiece "The Squid and the Whale", and he does his best here with a bare script. The rest of the cast is humorous as well, but as for McBride, a few years ago with the release of "Pineapple Express" and his HBO series "Eastbound and Down", I thought he was the funniest thing going. Now, although still amusing, it appears he is just a one trick pony and we've got all we're really gonna get out of him. "30 Minutes or Less" really is a disappointment and kind of a vacuous movie but I did want to say something to its credit. In a summer of abysmal R rated comedies, this is the only one that doesn't wallow in toilet humor and in a time where Judd Apatow's inane movies occasionally flirt with the 150 minute mark, an 83 minute detour such as this can be a welcome relief. I guess its good for a few laughs as well.