Director: Ruben Fleischer
Screenwriter: Michael Diliberti, Matthew Sullivan
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña
Running time: 83 mins
Certificate: 15
Screenwriter: Michael Diliberti, Matthew Sullivan
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña
Running time: 83 mins
Certificate: 15
There are a good few sideways chuckles to be had watching this heist caper, not least when its star Jesse Eisenberg insists that he's not totally into Facebook. Indeed, his pizza delivery boy Nick has little in common with his Oscar-nominated role in The Social Network.
Nick is too busy racing against the clock to get his orders delivered in 30 Minutes or Less i.e. headed nowhere, fast. That is, until he's kidnapped, has a bomb strapped to his body and is ordered to rob a bank. It's a predicament that makes you sit up and pay attention. But not too suddenly...
The loosely-called mastermind behind this plot is Danny McBride, playing another variation on the wannabe alpha-male seen in stoner comedies such as Pineapple Express and Your Highness.
His thinking is just as much impaired, but this time he adds psychosis to stupidity as Dwayne, the son of a soldier who wants to bump dad off (that's Fred Ward gone Full Metal Jacket) to claim his lottery winnings. But first he calls on Nick to fetch the hundred grand for the hitman (Michael Pena), or else be lit up like a Roman candle. A timer on the bomb vest sets the deadline at ten hours.
For a while it's Pineapple Express meets 24 with Nick's first stop being a school (duh) to recruit his teacher pal Chet (Aziz Ansari) for bagman duty. It's ludicrous how quickly Chet gets on board with the heist, but apparently he needs the excitement to channel so much manic energy. Ansari bounces off the walls with no TNT required, cracking wise in the most dire circumstances.
It's a fractious kind of friendship - far from the pot-fuelled 'bromance' between Rogen and Franco - with Chet furious to discover that Nick has slept with his sister (Dilshad Vadsaria). The idea that this lowly pizza boy is in love with her only vexes him more, creating more urgency in Nick to break out of his rut. Of course, he may be too late to seize the moment.
Eisenberg is the madly beating heart of the film; sweaty with desperation and desire while everyone else is just angling for laughs. He's also funny without trying too hard, but the other actors need to graft, because the story isn't inherently funny. Thankfully, Ansari's goofiness offsets his obnoxious streak and even Nick Swardson (often supporting Adam Sandler) isn't too annoying as Dwayne's clingy sidekick.
It's after the bank raid, when the big guns come out, that director Ruben Fleischer and Ben Stiller (producing) get into strife. They struggle to balance casual violence with easy laughs, especially when it's Nick and Chet getting their hands dirty, then wheeling off into predictable action film territory. The freshness of the first half is lost by the end. Still, Eisenberg's intensity as the put-upon pizza boy ensures that it doesn't go stone cold.
Nick is too busy racing against the clock to get his orders delivered in 30 Minutes or Less i.e. headed nowhere, fast. That is, until he's kidnapped, has a bomb strapped to his body and is ordered to rob a bank. It's a predicament that makes you sit up and pay attention. But not too suddenly...
The loosely-called mastermind behind this plot is Danny McBride, playing another variation on the wannabe alpha-male seen in stoner comedies such as Pineapple Express and Your Highness.
His thinking is just as much impaired, but this time he adds psychosis to stupidity as Dwayne, the son of a soldier who wants to bump dad off (that's Fred Ward gone Full Metal Jacket) to claim his lottery winnings. But first he calls on Nick to fetch the hundred grand for the hitman (Michael Pena), or else be lit up like a Roman candle. A timer on the bomb vest sets the deadline at ten hours.
For a while it's Pineapple Express meets 24 with Nick's first stop being a school (duh) to recruit his teacher pal Chet (Aziz Ansari) for bagman duty. It's ludicrous how quickly Chet gets on board with the heist, but apparently he needs the excitement to channel so much manic energy. Ansari bounces off the walls with no TNT required, cracking wise in the most dire circumstances.
It's a fractious kind of friendship - far from the pot-fuelled 'bromance' between Rogen and Franco - with Chet furious to discover that Nick has slept with his sister (Dilshad Vadsaria). The idea that this lowly pizza boy is in love with her only vexes him more, creating more urgency in Nick to break out of his rut. Of course, he may be too late to seize the moment.
Eisenberg is the madly beating heart of the film; sweaty with desperation and desire while everyone else is just angling for laughs. He's also funny without trying too hard, but the other actors need to graft, because the story isn't inherently funny. Thankfully, Ansari's goofiness offsets his obnoxious streak and even Nick Swardson (often supporting Adam Sandler) isn't too annoying as Dwayne's clingy sidekick.
It's after the bank raid, when the big guns come out, that director Ruben Fleischer and Ben Stiller (producing) get into strife. They struggle to balance casual violence with easy laughs, especially when it's Nick and Chet getting their hands dirty, then wheeling off into predictable action film territory. The freshness of the first half is lost by the end. Still, Eisenberg's intensity as the put-upon pizza boy ensures that it doesn't go stone cold.
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