Just The Right Mix Of Humor And Violence: Why 30 Minutes Or Less!

The Good: Funny. Decent character development, Action is entertainment.
The Bad: The acting is nothing to write home about.
The Basics: 30 Minutes Or Less is a very simple premise that works because it is funny and has enough action to be engaging.


The last few years, there have been a number of disturbing trends in cinema. The first, for me, has been the combination of graphic nudity and sex and explicit gore/violence. I don't see the point in getting turned on only to get so repulsed to the extent that one might want their genitals to just shrivel up. The other disturbing trend is the mix of humor and violence. I don't mind the concept of mixing humor and violence, but so often the movies I have seen, like Observe And Report and Pineapple Express (reviewed here!) are far more disturbing in their violence than they are funny. So, with the concept of 30 Minutes Or Less was one that had limited appeal for me. I mostly went to the preview screening because I enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (reviewed here!) and director Ruben Fleischer impressed me with Zombieland (reviewed here!).

30 Minutes Or Less worked, though. It was funny and there was enough action and suspense to balance it well. The balance was enough to make me care about the characters, even though the acting was nothing extraordinary. Still, it had some decent lines and it was enjoyable to see Jesse Eisenberg yet again. He plays Nick and Nick is a nice change from prior characters I have seen him play. But the film is far from flawless and while it goes quickly, after preview screening, I realized that because the premise was so simple, there was actually remarkably little to write about the movie.

Nick speeds around Grand Rapids, Michigan working for Vito's Pizza. Their motto is "30 minutes or less" and when he fails to make a run, he swindles the kids who scammed him out of their money with the promise of beer. Nick sees those in his life moving on, his best friend Chet has become a teacher at the elementary school and Chet's twin sister Kate has just gotten a job at the Four Seasons in Atlanta. Dwayne and Travis are lowlifes who have no real ambitions, Dwayne living with his millionaire ex-Marine father. One day at the strip club, Dwayne tells Juicy that he wants his father's last million and Juicy tells him that he has a way to kill the Major, but it will cost him $100,000. Innovating, Dwayne decides to "think like a millionaire" and he and Travis have Nick deliver a pizza to them at the scrapyard.

Nick awakens with a bomb strapped to him and the directions to rob a bank for the hundred thousand dollars Dwayne wants for his "tanning salon." Despite the serious falling out that Nick and Chet had the day before, Nick goes to Chet's school and begs him to help him. Chet and Nick realize that the vest will not come off without Nick losing his arms, at the very least. So, they prepare to rob the bank, as Dwayne works to line-up the killer needed to put the Major down.

One of the serious problems with 30 Minutes Or Less is that the plot is predictable. When Nick has the chance to tell off his boss, he runs to tell Kate good-bye. When the heist takes a turn for the violent and Nick messes up the money transfer with the killer, that decision to visit Kate comes back to bite him in the ass. The thing is, this move was telegraphed when Travis follows Nick during the rendezvous.

Moreover, the acting is nothing to write home about. Aziz Ansari is amusing as Chet. Ansari's entire routine as the sidekick seems to be raising the pitch of his voice and bugging out his eyes. It works, but the longer the movie goes on, the less impressive the performance seems. And while Jesse Eisenberg embodies - well - a character unlike any he has ever played, Danny McBride is well within his safe zone from his performance in Pineapple Express (which is the only other movie I have seen him in), as is Nick Swardson as Travis. The acting is mediocre at best for the bulk of the movie.

That said, 30 Minutes Or Less is funny and it is entertaining enough to recommend. There is a cute Facebook reference that allows Jesse Eisenberg to deliver one of the movie's best tongue-in-cheek lines. And the introduction of Chet is punctuated with the memorable line, "The alcohol should wash the taste of you out of your mouth." Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan craft a script which is actually very funny and has some wonderful lines.

But the movie also has some decent action moments or moments atypical to a comedy. For example, after the car chase, Chet has a piece of the car embedded in his back. As Nick has to pull the shrapnel out, I sat and considered that I had never seen a moment like that in a comedy or action film. Sure, war films and doctor shows, but not an action comedy. And it worked.

30 Minutes Or Less is an entertaining film and one of the funniest moments is after the credits. But it's definitely a movie worth only one viewing.

For other works featuring Michael Pena, please check out my reviews of:
Battle Los Angeles
Everything Must Go
Million Dollar Baby
Crash
Homicide: Life On The Street - Season 6

6/10

For other movie reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject.

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Gross And Absolutely Hilarious: Big Trucks, Big Guns Zombieland Is Fun!

The Good: Generally good character work, Awesome (gross!) effects, Good acting, Fun plot
The Bad: Characters still make very stupid mistakes!
The Basics: Funny and full of gore, Zombieland is a surprisingly fresh zombie film!


It is a very rare thing for me to go to a horror movie and enjoy it. It is an even more rare thing for me to take my wife to a screening of a horror film and have her smiling and having a good time still when we come out. And yet, when we went to a screening of Zombieland together, that is exactly what happened. In fact, my wife has seen the film twice now and I think she is angling to have it added to our permanent collection. I suspect her enjoyment of the movie has com, in part, from the fact that Zombieland has been horribly misrepresented in its advertisements as a horror film. Make no mistake: Zombieland is one of the goriest, most graphically violent films I've seen (and enjoyed) from 2009. But it is a comedy before it is a horror and while there are scary moments, they are vastly outnumbered by the beats that are just gory or are actually laugh-out-loud funny.

Zombieland follows on a recent cinematic rebirth in the interest in zombie movies sparked by the success of 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later and the more broadly popular (and arguably less zombie-focused) I Am Legend. And amidst a ton of zombie movie remakes and films simply adapting popular undead literature, Zombieland arrives as a welcome original work. It is sharp, funny, and while the characters make some truly lame mistakes that put them in peril, it is generally populated by smart characters who have a realistic sensibility of where and when they are. And, in my current tradition of hating voiceovers, Zombieland actually uses voiceovers (and on-screen notations) remarkably effectively for both humor and viewer education.

Columbus, so nicknamed because of where he is headed, is a young man who has survived the viral outbreak that created zombies out of most humans through a list of rules. Keeping fit through cardio exercises, alive through always buckling up and being cunning about where and when he uses a bathroom, Columbus has been on the road when he encounters another human uninfected by the virus, Tallahassee. Tallahassee is a psychopathic man who lives by his wits and his exceptional arsenal of weapons. Obsessed with finding a Twinkie, Tallahassee agrees to take Columbus in his beefed up SUV to increase their chances of survival. Tallahassee's obsession with finding one of the remaining Twinkies on the planet puts both in peril when they stop at a grocery store and are taken hostage by two young women, whom they nickname Wichita and Little Rock.

After being swindled by Wichita and Little Rock, the men find another ride and a new arsenal of weapons and they set out west toward the Pacific Playland, which is where the women were headed. After finding their latest trap, the quartet decides to head out together. And when they make it to California, they find themselves in the least likely accommodations, getting closer. Only, when Little Rock and Wichita head out from the sanctuary must Columbus violate his rule ("Don't Be A Hero!") to rescue the young woman he has fallen for.

Zombieland is surprisingly funny, a fact which is almost lost on viewers as the opening credits roll. The opening credit sequence, a slow-motion montage of carnage that is stylistically similar to the opening of Watchmen, illustrates the zombie rampage, though it has some laughs (most notably the stripper chasing the client of the strip club. And the jokes are not often mixed with the graphic gore, so Zombieland becomes very easy to watch. Most of the humor is verbal ("Don't get stingy with the bullets" and "You almost knocked over your alcohol with your big knife") and there is a peculiar wit to the characters in Zombieland that makes it engaging.

The gore in the film is excessive and my squeamish partner clung to me at various points, but more often than not - usually when zombies were sinking their teeth into extras and pulling out veins that looked like spaghetti - she was whispering "That looks so fake" to me. This made the horror in the film completely disarmed and much easier to watch as a result. She is right; outside the moments where 406 (Columbus's neighbor at the outbreak of the plague) hobbles toward him on a stump of an ankle, the film is not disturbingly graphic.

Still, though, Zombieland is robbed of anything remotely near perfection by two things. The first is that the pathogen is never clearly defined. Columbus references that the infection began from someone eating bad meat, but the spread of the virus is implied to be airborn or bloodborn at times. The speed and virulence of it - the United States has collapsed two weeks after the outbreak - seems to imply airborn or a ridiculously virulent airborn variety. That the virus might be only contagious by bite (implied in the scene that introduces Little Rock) makes far less sense given the speed of the virus. Because it is not clear, it is hard to buy some of the scenes where Tallahassee is eagerly chopping up zombies at close range.

As well, Zombieland is populated by four surprisingly smart characters who do some ridiculously stupid things. When Wichita reaches her destination she does a predictably stupid thing which puts all four of the characters in serious peril. More than that, the group finds a real sanctuary in the home of Bill Murray, but they move on based upon old goals. That the characters do not truly grow enough to illustrate a clear understanding of the perilous world they are in is troublesome.

But what works beautifully is the overall narrative; Columbus is a realistic and sensible character and watching him take the steps necessary to survive is entertaining. Columbus is ably performed by Jesse Eisenberg and he plays a young man (which he is) very well. He has great ticks and eye movements as an overly-cautious obsessive compulsive survivor and he works. Here he establishes well a credibility to later play the genius protagonist in The Social Network. As well, he plays off Emma Stone (Wichita) and Abigail Breslin (Little Rock) remarkably well.

But it is Woody Harrelson who steals the film, especially in scenes he is paired with Bill Murray for. Harrelson has no hint of his hapless character from Cheers. Instead, he plays Tallahassee as smart and dangerous and he pulls the role off perfectly. He plays Tallahassee with a realistic intelligence, but also manages to carry the few moments the survivalist shows he has heart. He makes Zombieland cool, where Eisenberg holds most of the film's humor.

Anyone who likes comedy and can stomach gore will find a lot to enjoy in Zombieland. It is gross, but it doesn't let up with the humor, even in the later moments of peril. It is stylish and cool and very entertaining. And as a public service, stick with it through the credits; there is a bonus scene (blooper) at the end of the credits.

For other horror or comedies that blend genres, please check out my reviews of:
Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters
Shutter Island
The Land Of The Lost

7/10

For other movie reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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