30 Minutes Or Less: "Guess What, You Just Bought A Gun To A Bomb Fight Officer"

Director:  Ruben Fleischer
Writer:     Michael Diliberti
                Matthew Sullivan
Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg
                Danny McBride
                Aziz Ansari
                Nick Swardson
                Dilshad Vadsaria 
                Michael Pena

                Bianca Kajlich

                Fred Ward
Rating:    ***

Home Release: 2011

A promising and original comedy, directed by and featuring the best, unfortunately it's not that exciting or funny.

Nick (Eisenberg) is a lazy pizza boy, who just enjoys getting by in life. He spends most of his life with his best friend Chet (Ansari), delivering pizza's and chasing after Chet's twin sister Katie (Vadsaria). On the other side of town we have Dwayne and Travis (McBride & Swardson), two even lazier men, who rely solely on Dwayne's over powering father "The General" (Ward). One day they decide to cut their losses and hire a hit man (Pena) to kill The General, so they can inherit his money and be rid of him.

A stripper named Juici (Kajlich) tells them of her friend, but he will cost $100,000, which they don't have. So basically they order a pizza, strap a bomb to Nick, tell him to rob a bank or Ka-Boom and hilarity is meant to ensue. Now, Eisenberg is is his usual awkward, witty and funny self, who proves he is more than capable of leading a movie. He is honestly the highlight of the movie, but with few moments of genuine 'laugh-out-loud' moments, he never actually reaches his full potential.

My biggest issue is Ansari, who is normally hilarious and always makes me laugh. What I have now discovered is, he is only funny in 30 minute bursts, or minor movie roles. When you put him in as the second lead role he really starts to grate on you, mainly because every role he has ever played is the same person. His arrogant, slimy characteristics are usually hilarious, and although he did make me laugh the odd couple of times, overall he just annoyed me. That being said, the chemistry between Eisenberg and himself was excellent and they bounced off of each other really well, shame he was really annoying.

The two lazy delinquents were played brilliantly by McBride and Swardson, and again their chemistry together was perfect, and really allowed the characters to soar. The writing was the main issue, it lacked the comedy it really needed, which is what let it down in the end. It's not the worst script, but it was missing that special something, but all of the actors used it the best they could and managed to vaguely make it work.

The direction by Fleischer was superb, and it had the same feel as Zombieland (his first and best film). His edgy shooting, and sharp cutting made the film fun and exciting to watch, but like I keep saying, the writing just didn't work. It'll be out on DVD by the end of this year, and I do recommend it as a whole, but don't expect anything nearly as good as Zombieland, now that I highly recommend.

30 Minutes or Less - Trailer