MOVIE OF THE WEEK #2 (8/10/11): 30 MINUTES OR LESS
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña, Dilshad Vadsaria, Bianca Kajlich and Fred Ward
WRITER(S): Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan
DIRECTOR: Ruben Fleischer
WEB SITE: http://www.30minutesorless.com/
THE PLOT: A comedy (most likely) inspired by the real life tragic death of Brian Wells, 30 Minutes or Less stars Jesse Eisenberg as Nick. A Michigan resident, Nick spends most of his time doing three things: [1] Smoking weed [2] Hanging out with his teacher friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) and [3] Pining after Chet's sister Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). Yes, they American-ized the two names of the characters of Middle Eastern descent ... Moving on ....
Nick unexpectedly finds himself adding a fourth thing to his list of activities once he delivers a pizza to Darryl (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). You see, Darryl is tired of living under the thumb of his lottery-winning, retired Marine dad "The Major" (Fred Ward) and wants the rest of his cash before he spends it all. Additionally, if he can get his dad's cash, he can get Juicy (Bianca Kajlich), a stripper lacking the heart of gold.
Juicy does, however, have a connection to Chango (Michael Peña), a hitman who will kill Darryl's dad if he can pay him $100,000. But Darryl doesn't have access to 100-large, nor does his dimwitted best friend and bomb expert Travis. But they do have a phone and a plan to strap a bomb to Nick and make him rob a bank to get the $100,000 they need ...
THE TAKE: I'm going to repeat this later, but let me say this first - if you see Danny McBride in a movie, with the exception of his animated film work and Land of the Lost, it's going to have a lot of swearing. Let me repeat that - A LOT of swearing. And not only will there be swearing, it will be of a genitalia-imaged, body-part violating nature from the perspective of a character who would be a classic 1980s high school villain or guy who thinks he's cooler than he really is.
If that doesn't bother you, then you'll likely find 30 Minutes or Less a really, really, REALLY funny ride.
There are three reasons 30 works as well as it does: [1] The actors don't go overboard (which is unnecessary given the nature of the story; [2] There's no spam or filler to be found (I like Judd Apatow's movies, but even I will admit that they can run a bit long) and [3] The funny moments are funny without being too silly and are never forced to create comedy where there isn't any.
While there is really not much more to say about the movie as a whole, there is plenty to say about Ansari's performance in the film. For if there were an Academy Award specifically for comedic performances, he would have to be a front runner for his work in 30. While more and more people are becoming familiar with his work - be it his Twittering, his connection to the "Throne" combo of Kanye West and Jay-Z, his work as a stand-up comic or is acting on NBC's Parks & Recreation - Ansari is a comedic tour-de-force in the film. Be it delivering punchlines, setting up punchlines or simply reacting to the lunacy of the situation at hand, Ansari proves he knows funny at every turn. Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan, the film's writers give him good material to start with, certainly, but Ansari makes each moment his own.
(Don't be surprised if you see Peña get more work in comedic movies, as well, for while his time on screen may be limited, it's quite good.)
PARTING SHOT: Rude, crude but flat-out funny (I told you I would repeat myself), 30 Minutes or Less is an entertaining flick that earns every one of its "LOLs" with snappy punchlines, well-acted scenes and snappy, effective directing from start to finish.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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