30 Minutes or Less

Review:

Nick’s (Eisenberg) life is going nowhere; stuck in a dead-end job as a pizza delivery boy, without a best friend since Chet (Aziz Ansari) learnt Nick slept with his sister. When it really couldn’t get much worse, Nick finds himself kidnapped by Dwayne (McBride) and Travis, two men looking for $100,000 to hire an assassin to kill Dwayne’s father and gain his inheritance. But instead of holding Nick to ransom, they strap a bomb to him and give him ten hours to obtain the money by robbing a bank, forcing Nick to reunite with Chet in order to carry out the mad plan and stay alive.

30 Minutes or Less is the second collaboration by Fleischer and Eisenberg after 2009’s Zombieland, and here a similar style of humour is adopted. Whilst the issue of bombings itself is controversial, the film manages to not be offensive and focuses the humour more towards the people involved than the actual bomb. The writing also keeps the standard set by Zombieland, being both clever and original but remembering that, at heart, it is mostly played for laughs. Fleischer also shows his continued improvement behind the camera, with most of his direction setting the initial tone.

All the actors acquit themselves well here, with Eisenberg as always the standout as the down-on-his-luck Nick. Ansari is good as Chet, who eventually puts aside his differences to help Nick complete the robbery and save his life. McBride shines as Dwayne, who looks to step outside the shadow of his father, but not in a way that you might expect.

If you liked Zombieland, there’s a good chance you’ll like 30 Minutes or Less. It’s fast-paced, funny, and at 83 minutes, doesn’t let itself become stale before the closing credits.

Thomas Freeman