30 Minutes Or Less [MA]

Nick is a man who is still becoming a man. Whilst his best friend is a substitute teacher, Nick is still driving around delivering pizzas for a living. But his humdrum and mundane world is almost literally blown to bits when he delivers pizzas to a guy who plans to murder his own father. Nick wakes up to find that he has a bomb strapped to his body and only a limited amount of time to rob a bank, steal a grand, and get it to the psychos before he becomes stains on the pavement. Dragging his best friend Chet along for the ride, this is going to be the longest day of Nick’s life. 

As much as I hate to make a really stupid and clichéd pun here, it must be said that this movie is the bomb! It’s simple and a smooth-sailing story, but at the same time is loaded to breaking point with all types of action and verbal attacks that are hard on the ears. Not to mention the fantastic freak-outs that came out of Jesse Eisenberg! This movie fucking rocks! I LOVED IT! 

Nick is a man who is still becoming a man. Whilst his best friend is a substitute teacher, Nick is still driving around delivering pizzas for a living. But his humdrum and mundane world is almost literally blown apart when he delivers pizzas to a guy who plans to murder his own father. Nick wakes up to find that he has a bomb strapped to his body and only a limited amount of time to rob a bank, steal a grand, and get it to the psychos before he becomes a stain on the pavement. Dragging his best friend, Chet, along for the ride, this is going to be the longest day of Nick’s life. 

This is just a really good action/comedy! All there is is the slight Coen-esque action that stems from misunderstandings and people acting like idiots in time of desperation or control. And let it be said here that I use the phrase “Coen-esque”, but that does not mean that this is a Coen brother’s movie. A bit of a disclaimer, I know, but there it is. 

The marriage of the action and the comedy was perfectly balanced and what makes this film so gripping is the fact that all types of comedy and action are used. Action-wise, we have car chases, hold-ups, shoot-outs, flame-throwers, bombs, and everything in between. And then comedy-wise we have freak-outs, desperation, violence, language, and general verbal and violent abuse and amateurship. It’s just hilarious. 

And then, to play against the comedy and action, the film has a subtler and really lovely story about friendship that runs along parallel with the general story. That was really nice. 

Without a doubt, the show belonged to Jesse Eisenberg who starred as Nick. I have a real soft spot for Jesse, I have to admit; I absolutely love him and here, he delivered a wonderful and memorable performance that was desperate, aggressive, frustrated, and just wonderfully funny. HE WAS BRILLIANT, JUST BRILLIANT! 

Starring Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria, Michael Pena, Fred Ward, and Bianca Kajilich 30 Minutes Or Less is a wonderfully funny, violent and rollicking film that’s packed with action, romance, self-discovery, friendship, blunders, and all manner of violence and fuck-ups. It really is a great film and I thoroughly enjoyed it!