Do you prefer your Jesse Eisenberg movies a little more "Zombieland" than "The Social Network"? If so, "30 Minutes or Less" is made to order. Don't get us wrong, Eisenberg nailed his Oscar-nominated role as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's timely drama; but the character, unlike Eisenberg in real life, was totally unlikable and not as fun to watch.
In the raunchy action-comedy "30 Minutes or Less," Eisenberg reteams with "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer to play Nick, a delivery guy who has to pay for a lot of his customers' pizzas owing to his inability to deliver the dough in the guaranteed 30 minutes or less. Nick's also on the outs with his BFF Chet (Aziz Ansari) because Nick confessed that he slept with Chet's twin sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria), once on graduation night and would like to do so on a regular basis.
Across town, Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson) are two criminally minded morons who resent living under the thumb of Dwayne's father, a militant lottery winner who is squandering his loot fast. While getting a lap dance from "Juici" at a strip joint, Dwayne is told by her that she knows someone who will off his old man for $100,000. Soon Dwayne and Travis don ape masks, kidnap Nick and force him to rob a bank for them to get the money for the hit man. Nick is locked into a vest with a ticking bomb, so suddenly the pizza guy with punctuality problems has to smooth things over with Chet to get help robbing a bank and delivering the cash before things get decidedly more "Hurt Locker" for him.
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"30 Seconds or Less" would be just another silly heist flick were it not for a lot of witty, quick-fire banter between the members of its talented cast and some back-and-forth double crosses that keep the 83-minute film breezing along at a snappy pace. McBride's dry, unapologetic approach to knocking over a bank ("If wanting a lot of money is gay, then, yeah, I am Elton John") is in perfect contrast to Eisenberg's patented smartass-nerd schtick. There are even some loaded, seemingly throwaway comments that are subtle references to Eisenberg's real life, like when Nick says he doesn't bother with Facebook (which Zuckerberg, his character in "The Social Network," founded) and says that he never watched "The Hurt Locker" (the movie that beat "The Social Network" for the Best Picture Oscar).
Although it's not quite "The Hangover" in terms of crude humor and violence, this R-rated race against time never runs out of laughing gas thanks to Eisenberg and McBride's never missing a comic beat.
Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain deleted scenes, outtakes and "Blowing Up With the Cast and Crew of '30 Minutes or Less.'" The Blu-ray adds picture-in-picture commentary with director and cast, "The Perfect Crime: Action and Comedy in '30 Minutes or Less'" featurette, and "30 Minutes or Less" themes and wallpaper for your PS3.
