30 Minutes or Less (2011)
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest, and advise him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else...
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Across town, Dwayne (Danny McBride, "Your Highness") is tired of of not being fed from a silver spoon by his dad, a Marine Corps Major (Fred Ward, "The Right Stuff," "Tremors") who retired on a $10 million lottery win.
So, the two devise a half-baked scheme to kill Dwayne’s military father, The Major (Fred Ward of “Tremors”), who recently won the lottery but is burning through his cash like an NBA lottery draft pick.
Do not be fooled into thinking "30 Minutes or Less" comes from the same loopy sensibility as star Eisenberg and director Ruben Fleischer's "Zombieland."
Reuniting with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, Jesse Eisenberg (slumming after his Oscar nomination for The Social Network) plays Nick, a hapless pizza delivery slacker who is abducted by a pair of infantile would-be criminals, strapped into a timebomb vest, and forced to rob a bank.
“30 Minutes or Less,” the new comedy from “ Zombieland ” director Ruben Fleischer, is built like Radiohead’s Kid A (it’s inferior to Kid A, of course, but go with us on this).
Novice screenwriter Michael Diliberti doesn’t deliver enough of a heist plan or slacker subplot for director Ruben Fleischer to work with, making it a dreadful disappointment after Fleischer’s flashy first feature, “Zombieland,” which also starred Eisenberg.
Which is too bad considering that Fleischer also helmed "Zombieland," another and far better action-comedy that also starred this film's lead performer, Jesse Eisenberg.
No Oscar nominations will be earned for this new comedy from first-time writer Michael Diliberti, basically first-time scribe Matthew Sullivan and, most disappointingly, the director of the brilliant and wildly successful Eisenberg film “Zombieland”: Ruben Fleischer.
Well, that’s basically the plot of Uncharted, the live-action movie, directed by Ruben Fleischer, known especially for good-hearted comedies, starting with Zombieland (2009) and the extremely zippy, if less-heralded 30 Minutes or Less (2011), followed most recently by the larger-scale action pictures Venom (2018) and Zombieland: Double Tap (2019), which both played down to lowered expectations.
Director Ruben Fleischer has had a mixed career, having made the enjoyable first Zombieland movie, the less-good second one, and also subpar stuff like 30 Minutes or Less and Gangster Squad .
Look, he’s certainly got runs on the board with the Zombieland films and the forgotten pizza-delivery comedy 30 Minutes or Less .
Okay, call up a shady van and swanky Nissan, and let’s emphasize on palpable velocity rather than over-the-top destruction (hello, “30 Minutes or Less”).
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A lot of recent movies have wanted to have it both ways (30 Minutes Or Less being an especially bad offender), putting the characters in legitimate peril while the thrust of the scene is still some jokey riffing.