Movie Review Repost -- 30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Let's take a look back at one of my earliest reviews, 30 Minutes or Less, a forgotten comedy from 2011. I thought it was lame. I still think it was lame... I guess. It's not all that memorable so I can't really say I've thought about it much recently. Really the only notable thing about this movie is that Nick Swardson -- actor I hate the most-- isn't terrible in this. That's about all I can think to say of this film. Enjoy.

  This movie is bland. So bland that it's actually hard for me to think of things to write here. In fact, this must have been how the writers of the movie felt.

  30 Minutes or Less is the first comedy movie I've reviewed and the most important part of making a comedy is having an engaging plot. The plot is about a guy named Nick who is forced to rob a bank for someone named Dwayne because he is stuck to a bomb and he only has 10 hours to do it before its timer runs out. Sounds exciting, right? Except Nick and his buddy Chet keep getting caught in off-topic arguments that slow down the plot. OK, to be fair there are a few thrilling scenes like the bank robbery scene and the car chase scenes. But towards the end of the movie there's less and less jokes, and it feels almost like an action movie. The ending is really abrupt and leaves the viewer with a buttload of unanswered questions.

  Now for the jokes: some of them work, some of them don't work. By the end you'll have become used to the thoughtless automatic laughter you're emitting. You know those hilarious laugh-out-loud moments that you remember forever and quote whenever possible? Yeah, this movie has none of those.

  For the most part, the acting was pretty good. The only thing that bothered me was that Kate, Nick's love interest and Chet's sister, was so underdeveloped and banal. She's just there to look pretty and to cause tension between Nick and Chet.

  Overall, little effort was put into making this unremarkable snore-fest. There are better comedies out there. Watch them instead.

One and a half stars out of five. (Hey, I wrote a lot!)