30 MINUTES OF LESS

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
DECEMBER 14, 2011

Please explain to me, with a cast of established comedians and well-known actors, how the newest comer is the film’s highlight. “30 Minutes Or Less” is a launching pad for Aziz Ansari. If you’ve caught the television series “Parks & Recreation,” you already know his exceptional delivery. However, a comedian that outshines a 2010 Academy Award nominee is saying something.

Before “The Social Network,” Jesse Eisenberg was known for his awkward brand of humor, creating enjoyable performances in both “Adventureland” and “Zombieland” in 2009. Then 2010 rolled around, and Eisenberg picked up a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars for his performance in the overly hyped film “The Social Network.” From now on, it seems that it will be hard to buy Eisenberg in any of these teenage comedies. But it will also be equally hard not to feel like he has become slightly smug, which is the case with his performance in “30 Minutes Or Less.”

Eisenberg plays the lead role of Jake, a pot-smoking pizza delivery driver in Grand Rapids, MI. His demeanor is half-hearted and uninspired, as is most of the plot. Dwayne (Danny McBride) and his best friend Travis (Nick Swardson) decide to quit living under Dwayne’s wealthy father (Fred Ward). To do so, they enlist the help of a stripper named Juicy (Bianca Kajlich) and her assassin boyfriend, Chongo (Michael Pena), to take his father out of the equation. However, before Chongo helps, he needs $10,000. How better to get the money than to strap a bomb to a pizza delivery driver and force him to rob a bank for them? Despite everyone in the film being slow-witted, the idea is dumb enough to work.

Aside from some beautiful arguments between Eisenberg and Ansari, the film is rather bland, with a formulaic plot that hardly pays off. Tossed in the middle of the storyline is a haphazard romance between Jake and Chet’s (Ansari) twin sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria), to which Chet disapproves. That causes the conflict that makes the film more fun. The film does open nicely with Jake driving around recklessly in his pizza delivery car. Still, the film falls flat without any spectacle piecing it together, lacking urgency and contrived action sequences. Though it is always nice to see Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, Aziz Ansari steals the show and proves that he has become the next big name in comedy.