Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, and Nick Swardson
Reviewer: Brett Gallman
Reviewer's Rating: *** (Three Stars)
Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) really sucks at his job as a pizza delivery boy, particularly the part that requires him to reach his destination in less than half an hour. This makes him a perfectly disastrous fit for the harebrained scheme concocted by Dwayne (Danny McBride), who straps a bomb to Nick’s body and forces him to rob a bank for the $100,000 he needs to pay off a hit-man (Michael Pena) who will murder his millionaire father (Fred Ward). Ruben Fleischer assembles a lot of talent (and doesn’t waste it) for this raucous sort-of-action/comedy; only a couple of scenes qualify as action--one is a great chase scene that sees our hero botch the cliché 180 whiparound move to evade some cops. The film ultimately works even though the two leads (Eisenberg and McBride) are essentially playing the same two personas they’ve crafted in previous efforts. Admittedly, Eisenberg’s shy, neurotic act works to produce many of the film’s best laughs when it's pushed into some desperate situations, such as when he becomes the world’s most congenial bank robber.
However, this film just solidifies Danny McBride as a comedic force of nature; once again playing a boorish man-child with occasional (and incongruous) flashes of genuine brilliance, he steals every scene. When he’s unleashed, you can be sure that something inappropriately hilarious is going to follow, and it’ll probably reference genitalia of some sort. Each lead is also matched with a buddy--Eisenberg gets Aziz Ansari, while McBride is paired with Nick Swardson; I especially liked the former, who qualifies as the closest thing the film offers as a “straight” compliment to its oddballs. He’s got a real job as a schoolteacher, so he naturally agonizes over the various felonies he’s forced to commit, but he does so without having to constantly dial up his volume.
Such an insane setup could easily get away from all involved, but it stays just reigned in enough to keep all of the characters likeable despite a mean streak that adds to the film’s intensity. Even the two villains are so funny that you can’t really dislike them--deep down, they’re not much different than our protagonists, as they’re just a couple of buddies with big dreams to open up a tanning salon (which, of course, will double as a prostitution ring).
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Nice Review! As R-rated comedies go, this one is modestly enjoyable but unremarkable, liable to be forgotten in, oh, say, a half hour or so. The cast is having fun and although the film is over in 1 hour and 23 minutes, you still have fun the whole time. Check out my review when you can!
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