30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else...

Director:

Ruben Fleischer

Writers:

Michael Diliberti (screenplay), Michael Diliberti (story)

Stars:

Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jesse Eisenberg	...	Nick
Danny McBride	...	Dwayne
Aziz Ansari	...	Chet
Nick Swardson	...	Travis
Dilshad Vadsaria	...	Kate
Michael Peña	...	Chango
Bianca Kajlich	...	Juicy
Fred Ward	...	The Major
Sam Johnston	...	15 Year Old #1
Jack Foley	...	15 Year Old #2
Elizabeth Shapiro	...	Chet's Date (as Elizabeth Wright Shapiro)
Brett Gelman	...	Pizza Boss
Paul Tierney	...	Rodney
Staci Lynn Fletcher	...	Family Dollar Cashier (as Staci Fletcher)
Gary Brichetto	...	Mr. Fisher

Storyline

The not so smart Dwayne intends to open a massage parlor with his partner Travis, but he does not have money for the investment. He decides to hire a hit-man to kill his father, The Major, who won a large amount of money in the lottery years ago, but the killer demands US$ 100,000 for the job. Dwayne and Travis kidnap the pizza delivery boy Nick and they dress Nick in a vest with a timer and several bombs. Then Dwayne tells Nick that he has ten hours to rob US$ 100,000 from a bank. Once he does, he would give Nick the code to release the vest. Nick summons his best friend Chet to help him in the heist but the scheme does not work the way Dwayne has plotted.

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Plot Keywords:

unlikely criminal | heist | pizza delivery boy | sony | sony vaio | 

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Taglines:

A lot can happen in 30 minutes.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity and some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Spanish

Release Date:

12 August 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

30 minutos o menos

Filming Locations:

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,330,118, 14 August 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$37,053,924, 25 September 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Media Rights Capital (MRC),Red Hour Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fred Ward is credited as The Major, but near the final third of the film, when he is walking through his house, his oversized lottery check is shown on the wall, issued to him. So, his character's name is Major Jerry Mikowiski.

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Goofs

Travis says that Kate knocked over his soda and delayed him turning her over to Nick. However, in Michigan the vernacular is to call a soda a "pop."

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Quotes

Chet: Maybe I should just become a bank robber. I'm pretty good at it. Teachers don't make shit. Bank robbers make bank.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits, there is an ad for Dwayne's tanning/prostitution parlor, Major Tan.

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Connections

Spoofs Full Metal Jacket (1987)

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Soundtracks

No Hay Manera (Jason Roberts Remix)
Written by Sergio Gomez, Francisco Gomez and Juan Gabriel (as Alberto Aguilera Valadez)
Performed by Akwid
Courtesy of Machete Music/Universal Music Latino
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Inconsistent Writing

While the premise of this film leaves much room for hilarity, as shown by the promising trailer, it was unable to capitalize on this due to what feels like a lackluster effort on the part of the writers. There are many tell-tale indications of this, such as in the inconsistency of the characters. Palpable tension is generated between characters without any warning, and then it is forgotten by the next scene.

Another glaring issue was the pacing of the story. If you saw the trailer, you would think it centered around this bank robbery by two normal guys. However, this is only one small piece of the movie. The opening was simultaneously slow and somewhat insufficient, then everything sped up tremendously, and then the latter half of the film was dragged out to fill up the remaining time needed for the movie to be taken seriously.

In all, I would rate this film a 6.5/10 since it was still entertaining and done by clearly talented actors. However, note that this is far from their best work, probably because the actors were confused about who their characters were.