Wednesday, May 2, 2012

30 Minutes or Less

Pros: very funny, and filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my home for four years.
Cons: crass and crude, which overshadowed the humor and story.

I love a good comedy, and I (confession time) have a rather high tolerance for low-brow humor.  But it seems that a spate of recent comedies have pushed the bar lower than ever.  30 Minutes or Less does fall into the low-brow category, but tells a rather entertaining story in a very funny way.  I love Jesse Eisenberg; his everyman persona, sort of clueless and earnest, was perfect in this role as Nick, a pizza delivery man who isn't sure what to do with his life.
Are you guys really that dumb?  Yes.  Yes they are.
Nick gets a little more focus to his life after a couple of nitwits strap a bomb to him as part of a hare-brained scheme to raise some cash--they're forcing him to rob a bank so they can hire a hit man.  Of course it gets all messed up, resulting in more violence than I would have expected from a goofy comedy.

I have to admit, I did somewhat enjoy the inane, yet sort of clever story line and some of the resulting "How can they be so stupid?" comedy.  But with the constant cursing and crude elements, I cannot recommend it.

Bottom line, 1 1/2 stars.

No comments: