Review of 30 Minutes or Less (2011) by Christian S — 21 Dec 2013

The idea of thirty minutes or less is simple. Two guys place a bomb on a guy and tell him to rob a bank otherwise he'll die. Why? They want to open a tanning salon with prostitutes... anyway, let's start with the characters.

To sum it up they're pretty good, but not many stand out. Not that they aren't funny or some aren't likable, but I didn't really care whether the good guys or the bad guys won. I actually was hoping inside the Mexican hit man would win.

Ultimately they're decent, all get a couple funny lines, but none were super funny or likable. The script was somewhere on the same lines. The movie tries to go for the raunchy comedy, but doesn't execute quite as nicely.

Many times it felt like they said fucking or something like that just for the sake of saying it. But it is funny, and you will laugh, but not many moments stick. But some scenes like the bank robbery and others really are funny, and didn't do anything wrong.

It was probably the most mild bank robbery scene ever, and I liked that. The only thing I didn't like was one of the movie's major flaws, and that's it's ending. The climax does something that didn't really need to happen (I'll mention in the spoiler section) and the conclusion and resolution is really poor.

It ends, and one person I watched the movie with just said, "Wait, that's it?" And worst, I'm not sure who is dead or who is alive. Somebody could easily say to at least three characters, "oh yeah he died," or "no he didn't die, a person could live through that.

" The first time I saw the movie I didn't really care, but when I came back to it, it really did bug me. I care enough about the characters I want to know at least what happened to them, but it feels like the movie doesn't even care enough to give resolution.

It was like a person wrote the movie all in one night and was so tired he just ended it as quick as possible. As far as acting goes, that's actually really well. Some of these lines aren't that funny, but they made them funny by the way they acted.

Jesse Eisenberg no longer is a socially awkward kid like in Zombieland, he plays the guy with little going on, but likable enough you want him to pull through and do something. Maybe if they'd have given a ending saying he did something, then that would work out a little better.

But his acting as well as the others from guys like Danny Mcbride and Nick Swardson are all good, and nobody is really holding the movie back. So for ups for the movie is the script and acting as well as the premise.

For cons, some turns offs within the already good script, areas to improve, and a really unfulfilling ending. But I will say for the characters, although they aren't as funny or likable as some raunchy comedies, they're pretty relatable.

But in the end the movie doesn't have a whole lot going for it, and for me is a low seven. Maybe it's best a one time watch, as it's not a movie you'll be watching many times, or at least that's the way it was for me.

I mean you might notice this review is a little shorter than usual, and that's usually because there's less to talk about, and that's what's going on here. It had some moments, but just didn't grab me like some other movies that it tries t to be like.

It's not a bad movie by any means, and it's fun while watching it, just afterwards it doesn't seem as good. Anyway worth a watch, and buying if you can get for cheap like I did. And remember, "You a pimp!".