Mean-spirited comedies are not the most appealing comedies. It’s a love it-or-hate it style that will gain as many fans as it will lose. If you’re a fan of your comedy being a little little darker, then 30 Minutes or Less is for you. If you’re not a fan of dark humor, 30 Minutes or Less is still for you. Director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) has managed to make a film that works on both a commercial and subversive level.
Narratively, this is much tighter than Zombieland. As fun as his zombie apocalypse comedy is, at times it felt like just watching talented actors joke around with each other without moving the plot forward in any substantial way. Here, the story moves quickly, thanks to a brief running time of 83 minutes and a tight script. There’s a constant sense of urgency, which all pays off wonderfully in the third act. The bank robbery sequence alone makes the film standout from most of its kind.
To make matters better, characters actually get killed in this movie. There’s a scene involving an older man getting shot. The man, who is probably the most morally-stable character in the film, for better or worse, is shot right in the chest and then left for dead. This tonally-jarring moment brings the film into darker territory it could have gone out of its way to avoid.
While Zombieland put its characters in danger, it was a film too in love with the ensemble to let one of them get mauled to death. Considering this is a film mostly filled with despicable people, Fleischer seems content in letting a few of them suffer. There are consequences to being stupid in this movie.
Furthermore, the director never glosses over the direness of the situation. Imagine spending most of your life as an unimportant loser, then finding out you may only have 10 hours to live. No, this depressing thought is not at the forefront of the film, but it’s admirable that Fleischer acknowledges the seriousness of the idea.
Not unlike Fleicher’s debut film, 30 Minutes is brilliantly cast. As any sane person expects, the excellent comedic leads deliver. Jesse Eisenberg turns a unlikeable loser into a root-able hero while Aziz Ansari and Michael Peña earn every big laugh they go for. Danny McBride and Nick Swardson make for a charmingly-moronic duo who are clearly in love with each other in a way above and beyond bromance.
Fleischer doesn’t just let the cast do their thing and hold the camera still, like plenty of other comedy directors. He brings a fun and energetic style to the film. 30 Minutes or Less is a quick, clever and refreshingly mean comedy that never slows down.