1095. 30 Minutes Or Less (2011)

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Running Time: 83 mins

30 Minutes Or Less is an American film about a pizza delivery guy who is kidnapped by two incompetent criminals and, after having a bomb strapped to his chest, he is given only a few hours to rob a band for $100,000 and return it to them.

This is one of the most ridiculous action comedies out there, on a par with Pineapple Express. It’s full of incompetent scheming, stupid farce, but fortunately, a good and consistently high level of comedy. The performances are all great, and while the story isn’t the most enthralling thing, it still keeps you entertained the whole way through.

Of course, one of the reasons that many ridiculous action comedies fail are because they just go on too long, and are too repetitive as a result. However, this is a short and snappy film at only 83 minutes long, and it’s consequently a lot more fun to watch.

There’s nothing hugely praiseworthy about the movie in reality, it’s a rehash of the genre, but its length is a significant factor for its high entertainment factor, as is the quality of the comedy.

On the one hand, yes, 30 Minutes Or Less is full of idiotic farce and stupidity that an eight-year-old could have dreamed up. However, there’s some brilliantly funny dialogue all the way through, and fantastic witty repartee between every character; even supporting characters or simple extras are still very funny to see.

What’s also great is that the actors’ performances and chemistry is hugely entertaining. Jesse Eisenberg, in one of his more standard roles, is still a lot of fun to watch, as is Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride, who bring a little bit more zing and energy to the table against Eisenberg’s slightly more cynical character.

But the great thing is that they all play off each other brilliantly, and in a hugely convincing way right the way through, so even if the story is nothing to rave about, the excellent performances and top comedy will surely give you a solid laugh, and that’s why this gets a 7.2 from me.