30-Minutes or Less (Rated R for all the usual material resorted to by incompetent kids to mask their sophomoric ineptitude): It's supposed to be a comedy, based on a true serious situation that was nothing to laugh at. Called by one of the more favorable reviewers "filthy, fun and ridiculous," it's yet another flick built around what targeted audiences flock to attend - juvenile material with gutter level nudge-nudge, wink-wink raunchiness as its driving force. Even at a scant 83:00, it seems overly long & repetitious.
The plot, as is usual for such genre, retains a germ of cleverness - if not entirely original, at least worth following from one sometimes suspenseful or ridiculous escapade to another while being road-blocked by the kind of garbage teens have come to think of as funny. (Sorry to say, so do many of the impressionable younger critics, who have little or no knowledge of better material from out of the past.) This is just the sort of formulaic flick that is heaped with enough obscenities (here, mainly, an overload of F-words) to the delight of, especially, young male audiences.
Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), a loser in every way - from failure to deliver pizzas on time to losing out with his girlfriend to tangling with his best buddy - continues going downhill when a couple of thugs force him, strapped to a time bomb, to rob a bank,. The guys avoid all the usual obstacles, get the money, but then must face a hit-man and more mayhem. Do Nick and his buddy win out at the last moment? If you're not sure yet, I've got a nice bridge I'd like to sell you.
Ruben Fleischer (who also directed Eisenberg in "Zombieland") can turn out this sort of funny raunch with one hand tied behind his back; he knows what sells and he sells it wholesale.
One weak but possibly redeeming factor for Michigan residents: this disparaging film was made in Grand Rapids with its typically bland locations & strip malls. Oh, boy! (Grade: D)