30 Minutes or Less
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 12, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
20
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAug 10, 2011
There's nothing nice about 30 Minutes or Less. It's got no redeeming social value. It just ticks away, exploding all notions of where you think it's going to go. It blew me sideways. Read full review
80
EmpireWilliam ThomasSep 12, 2011
Outrageous and endearing, the Zombieland team swaps horror for crime in a daft caper that's undoubtedly slight but terrifically entertaining all the same. Very fast and lots of fun. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazineTodd GilchristAug 10, 2011
At barely 80 minutes, the film seems like a slight little adventure, but Fleischer fleshes out his twists and turns to make it feel like a fully-rendered story. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 13, 2011
Tone is critical to a movie of this nature, and Fleischer gets it right. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickAug 12, 2011
Gut-bustingly funny -- perhaps this waning summer season's ultimate guilty pleasure. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 11, 2011
Slight and not exactly memorable, but it moves quickly and has some surprising twists and top-notch performances all around. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellAug 11, 2011
It's a brisk, though laugh-imbalanced, B-comedy with a hard R. Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie ZacharekAug 11, 2011
For every line or gag that works, there are three or four more that seem to belong in a different movie altogether, either a darker one or a breezier one. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 12, 2011
The actors never stray too far from their comfort zones, resulting in a sporadically funny but mostly bland crime comedy that only occasionally feels fresher or more memorable than that cold pizza you scarfed for breakfast Monday morning. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 11, 2011
Fleischer isn't much on details. It's all about the zigzagging rush of the ride. Fair trade. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 11, 2011
The movie ends up being just sharp enough at its peaks to be frustrating in its valleys. But the laughs are there. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreAug 10, 2011
There's too much cheese, but there are still enough amusing action beats and funny one-liners to let one say, 30 Minutes or Less delivers, more or less on time. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 11, 2011
A darkly comic underachiever that manages to charm almost in spite of itself, Ruben Fleischer's 30 Minutes or Less is probably best watched as it was made: without much evident effort. In other words, wait until it hits DVD, order a pizza and Netflix it. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichAug 10, 2011
It's hard to hate a movie that affectionately references the oeuvre of Kathryn Bigelow (both The Hurt Locker and Point Break!) and uses a whiny Third Eye Blind ballad as an acidic punch line. Read full review
50
ObserverMeghan KeaneAug 17, 2011
In the end, 30 Minutes or Less is a tidy, entertaining nerd action movie that should provide a good distraction for viewers this summer. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 12, 2011
Approximate time spent laughing: 30 seconds or fewer. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 11, 2011
30 Minutes or Less is a strange case. Either it goes for a particular tone and doesn't achieve it. Or it does achieve a tone that's not really worth striving for. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 11, 2011
30 Minutes or Less is "Pineapple Express" gone sour. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 11, 2011
30 Minutes or Less could have been a guilty pleasure, but the crusty caper is half baked. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 11, 2011
Eisenberg (who starred in director Fleischer's far better Zombieland) does his usual Eisenbergian thing, more slacker and less hacker, but still hitting the same notes. And Ansari squawks and yelps, like a parrot with a grudge. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisAug 11, 2011
The crime is appallingly petty. But occasionally the friction between two actors' idiocy will produce a comic spark. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsAug 11, 2011
The film contains a remarkable level of violence, yet never establishes a tone that would make it seem funny or truly shocking; the jokes flounder in an air of half-hearted spite. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinAug 10, 2011
An egregiously miscast Eisenberg stars as a young man toiling as a pizza boy, even though he displays only slightly less intelligence and savvy than the world-beater Eisenberg played in "The Social Network." Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 10, 2011
The movie's strategic error is to set the deadline too far in the future. There is something annoying about a comedy where a guy is strapped to a bomb and nevertheless has time to spare for off-topic shouting matches with his best buddy. A buddy comedy loses some of its charm in a situation like that. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 10, 2011
Director Ruben Fleischer, who directed Eisenberg in the worlds-better "Zombieland," never finds that kind of successful groove here, instead bouncing from one set piece to another, with vastly inconsistent results. Read full review
50
Village VoiceSeth Colter WallsAug 9, 2011
A comedy that knows it has to move with all due dispatch to keep from disappointing the customer. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 5, 2011
"Less" has trouble framing simple action, yielding clumsy car chases that put the burden of generating excitement on the music and editing. As a result, pic looks cheap and feels clipped. Read full review
45
NPRMark JenkinsAug 12, 2011
This slackers-go-gangsta comedy demonstrates that less than 90 minutes can be a very long time. Read full review
40
SlateDana StevensAug 13, 2011
30 Minutes or Less is a second movie that feels more like a first: slipshod, derivative, and unsure what tone to take toward its own sometimes distasteful subject matter. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirAug 11, 2011
30 Minutes or Less features about half of a decent idea, which works out OK since it ends up as half a movie. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 11, 2011
The dual bromances at the heart of his new film, however, are as unconvincing as the life-and-death action plot that propels the film. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttAug 5, 2011
Fleischer stages one chase scene with a bit of comic flair but otherwise never locates that mix of macabre action and comedy that at least made "Zombieland" amusing. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundAug 12, 2011
Watching 30 Minutes or Less, a proudly stupid action comedy that's awfully lethargic for all its slam-bang propulsion, it's tough to pinpoint who exactly Ruben Fleischer thinks he is. Read full review
30
TimeRichard CorlissAug 13, 2011
For a soul-sucking 83 minutes, you're trapped inside the film's tiny, ugly mind. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 11, 2011
If you tune out the dialogue, which is packed with raunch that has neither rhyme nor story reason, there are passable moments. The interludes of Nick shifting gears as he tries to beat the clock on another pizza run are nicely managed and say something about a character whose talent behind the wheel is a kind of grace note. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 13, 2011
30 Minutes or Less merely puts together actors with only one funny talent each, making them do it over and over again. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 11, 2011
Akin to watching a ring-tested champion punch far below his weight. What a comedown. Read full review
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