In August, 2003, Brian Douglas Wells, a pizza delivery man from Erie, Pennsylvania, was forced to wear a homemade bomb and rob a bank. This plot was hatched by a man and a woman. Wells knew the man through a prostitute. The money was going to be used to pay to have the woman's father killed, so that she could get his inheritance. Reports indicate that Wells had initially been in on the scheme, but didn't think it would go this far. Well did rob the bank, and attempted to follow a series of instructions that would defuse the bomb, but the device was then activated, killing him instantly.

In 30 Minutes or Less, Jesse Eisenberg stars as Nick, a down-on-his luck guy who works as a pizza delivery man. He likes to get high at work and he rarely fulfills his store's "30 minutes or less" guarantee. While on a delivery run, Nick is accosted by Dwayne (Danny McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson). Dwayne is sick of living with his father (Fred Ward), and with the help of a stripper named Juicy (Bianca Kajlich), has hatched a plan to hire a hitman to murder his dad. He then plans to take his father's money and open a tanning salon. But, Dwayne doesn't have the money to pay a hitman, so he and Travis strap a homemade bomb onto Nick and order him to rob a bank. Panicked, Nick goes to his best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari), despite the fact that the two have had a falling out after Nick confessed to having had sex with Chet's twin sister, Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). Chet agrees to help Nick and the two attempt to devise a plan where they can rob the bank, not get caught, and save Nick. However, Dwayne is growing impatient and he doesn't want any loose ends.

Wow. I don't know about you, but those two stories sound really similar. However, a story on Movieline.com dated August 7 of this year stated that a Sony rep had commented "Neither the filmmakers nor the stars of 30 Minutes or Less were aware of this crime prior to their involvement in the film,” and “The writers were vaguely familiar with what had occurred and wrote an original screenplay that does not mirror the real-life tragedy.” OK. Doesn't it seem a little far-fetched that someone could come up a story with that shared so many traits with a real-life event without knowing about it?

When I watch a film, I try to become completely engrossed in the movie and ignore any distractions, both internally and externally. So, while viewing 30 Minutes or Less, I tried to not think about the real-life story, and for the most part, I succeeded. However, the movie had other issues to overcome.

Everything else aside, 30 Minutes or Less is an odd little movie. And when I say "little" movie, I'm being serious, as it only runs 78 minutes before the credits. Given that, the movie is well-paced and the story barely slows down. Within this, we find many different kinds of jokes, ranging from slapstick to raunchy to absurdist. The problem with 30 Minutes or Less is that the script takes a step to the side in order for the actors to play themselves. Honestly, I never got the feeling that the four main actors were doing much acting here, as they simply stuck with what they know best. Eisenberg plays the neurotic guy who talks fast and isn't sure of himself. Ansari plays the smartass guy who likes pop culture references and sees himself as being cooler than he is. McBride plays the conceited redneck who thinks that everyone else is beneath him. Swardson plays a dumb guy who is slightly effeminate. There’s nothing wrong with an actor playing to their strengths, but in 30 Minutes or Less it’s almost as if the characters or any strong character descriptions exist.

30 Minutes or Less comes from Director Ruben Fleischer, who previously helmed Zombieland, which also starred Eisenberg. That movie took the familiar zombie movie and successfully combined action with comedy. He tries to do the same thing with 30 Minutes or Less, but the results are lackluster. I laughed a few times during the movie, but those chuckles rarely came from the in-movie jokes. Instead, they came from the fact that I like McBride’s schtick and Ansari’s jokes sounded like bits from his stand-up. The story doesn’t offer much suspense and the characters aren’t very likable. So, given the director and the cast, I expected more from 30 Minutes or Less. The fact that it takes such a cavalier attitude towards a true story doesn’t help.

The 30 Minutes or Less DVD contains only a few extras. "Blowing Up with the Cast & Crew of 30 Minutes or Less" (14 minutes) is a making-of featurette which offers an ample amount of comments from Director Ruben Fleischer, the producers, and the cast. They discuss the characters, and the actors talk about what it was like working with one another. In fact, this piece focuses mainly on the cast and characters, and each one gets in the spotlight for several minutes. Of course, it's always interesting to hear actors talk about one another. The DVD contains ten DELETED SCENES which run about 12 minutes. Most of these are simply additional footage from existing scenes. We do get a longer version of the ending, which doesn't change the story, but simply offers more information on what became of the characters. Finally, we get three OUTTAKES which are simply alternate versions of scenes from the film, showing how the actors improvised.