“30 Minutes or Less” is an enjoyable movie, but has faced controversy that is undeserved. The movie has some parallels to the tragic story of Brian Wells. A pizza delivery man in Erie, PA, he was allegedly forced to wear a bomb collar and rob a bank. (http://www.movieline.com/2011/08/family-of-real-life-pizza- bomber-not-laughing-at-30-minutes-or-less.php) In the movie, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is forced to rob a bank, while wearing a bomb vest. The writers and director claim to have only a vague familiarity with the Wells story. ( http://www.movieline.com )
After seeing the movie, the backlash against “30 Minutes” is refutable. What happened to Wells occurred in 2003, making it credible that the writers were not aware of Wells’s story. It is also fitting that the screenwriters would choose a pizza delivery driver for the bank robbery. In the movie Nick pulls all sorts of illegal driving manuevers to get to his delivery location on time (or it will come out of his paycheck). Very few professions demand driving to a location in an unrealistic amount of time, and also allow the driver to make tight turns at high speeds.
What happened to Wells is shockingly cruel. But the most heinous aspects of the real life event were not carried over into the movie. Nick is given 9 hours to rob the bank (Wells was given less than an hour). Nick feels relief after the robbery has been committed, he believes he will receive the bomb’s code and his part in the matter will be over. Also, some humourous moments occur during the robbery, establishing “30 Minutes” as a dark comedy.
One positive aspect of this movie is the true sense of the friendship between Nick and Chet (Aziz Ansari). Also, Jesse Eisenberg is in fine form here. Once the bomb is placed on him, and he starts to consider his options in the situation, one can feel his complete panic take over.
Another thing that the movie portrays well is the way that Nick and Chet behave during the commission of the robbery. There is a certain realism in this scene. Many of us have fantasized about what it would be like to pull off a successful bank robbery, without having to harm anybody. “Point Break” is mentioned in “30 Minutes”. How many times has this movie been a reference point in those “could you pull off a robbery” discussions with friends?
The good and bad characters are well-defined. Unlike Nick and Chet, Dwayne (Danny McBride) is not sympathathetic or likeable. People will probably be satisfied if they go to the theater and give this movie a chance.
This movie is not performing well at the box office (http://www.headlineplanet.com/home/2011/08/12/30-minutes-or-less- disappointing-at-box-office-glee-also-soft/) due to being difficult to categorize. The movie “The Dilemma” faced a similiar problem – it was billed as a comedy, but is actually a mix of comedy and drama. (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/01/17/does-the-dilemma-have-a-box-office-dilemma/) “30 Minutes” is not the kind of movie that provides constant laughs, but with its great one-liners and sympathetic characters, “30 Minutes or Less” is much funnier than “The Dilemma”.
Sources:
http://www.movieline.com
http://www.headlineplanet.com
http://blogs.wsj.com