Pity Nick, the poor pizza delivery guy. He’s forced to drive like a maniac to get food to the door in, as the title says, 30 minutes or less, or the price of the pizza is deducted from his already-low pay. He does this work in a beat-up old Mustang that’s clearly on its last legs. He gets no respect for his “career” choice, not from his best friend, not from the girl he’s had a crush on for years. But things get worse — much worse. Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) delivers pizza to Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson), only to discover it’s a ruse. Dwayne needs $100,000 to pay the hit man his stripper girlfriend Juicy hired to kill Dwayne’s dad, so they can inherit the millions he won in a lottery. Dwayne has already started “thinking like a millionaire,” and realizes the best way to get the cash is to get someone else to do it. So he and Travis, a recreational explosives expert, strap a bomb to Nick set to go off in 10 hours. He’s supposed to rob a bank in that time and deliver the money to Dwayne and Travis to be set free.
Nick goes to the only friend he has. Make that had. The night before, he revealed to Chet (Aziz Ansari) that he had a sexual encounter with Chet’s sister (Dilshad Vadsaria) back in high school and still harbors feelings for her. Nick claimed he’d matured, but, as Chet pointed out, “You had a Lunchables for dinner last night.” But Chet puts aside his anger to help Nick pull off the heist that will save his life.
| ONSCREEN |
| ‘Thirty Minutes or Less’ |
| » Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars |
| » Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari |
| » Director: Ruben Fleischer |
| » Rated: R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity and some violence |
| » Running time: 83 minutes |
This is certainly a setup for great comedy, and “30 Minutes or Less” doesn’t disappoint. It’s an hour and a half of pure pleasure, as we get to laugh at Nick’s awful predicament and Dwayne’s stoner grand delusions. Watching two bright but slightly clueless guys trying to get out of a bad situation is grand fun. Chet looks up the problem on Wikipedia, but concludes, “There’s not much consensus in the bomb-disabling community.” There follows a trip to Family Dollar for bank-robbing supplies, a hilarious heist, and foibles to which we can all relate. (Who hasn’t had a movie he “should” watch from Netflix sitting around for months?)
The script is fast-paced and well-written, but it helps that “30 Minutes” has a top-notch comedic cast. Eisenberg is less intense than he was in “The Social Network” and he seems more at ease. McBride is funny no matter what he’s in, and his special brand of villainy is perfectly played here. Ansari might be the real star, as a high-school teacher trying to let grow off his adolescence while his friend keeps trying to bring him back. He’s a highlight of the very funny television series, “Parks and Recreation,” and proves here he also has a great movie career ahead of him.
