30 minutes or Less: more like 30 Seconds - AKA how much of this movie is funny
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:25 pm
I just spent 2 hours in a movie theater texting and playing Hanging With Friends while the least funny movie I have seen in a while played before me. And I don't get why it wasn't funny! It had all the potential to BE funny! It has Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Aziz Ansari! But it was NOT FUNNY EVER.
The problem with this movie, I think, lies in two places:
1. Um, could there be a joke? There wasn't a single joke in this movie. Not a punchline to be seen. Now, I'm not sure if this is due to the writing or the acting. There were plenty of scenes where there seemed to be jokes, but they got lost because things were moving way too fast. And yet, it was the slowest paced movie ever. I wanted that movie over and checked my phone to see I was only a half hour in. Lose your audience in 30 minutes or less!
2. A string of second bananas does not a lead cast make. The big problem I think is that these guys are ACE as second bananas. I love Aziz Ansari in Parks & Recreation, where he's there for a quick joke or silly situation, but the story doesn't depend on him. Nick Swardson has hilarious stand up and is so funny as Terry in Reno 911, but I've never seen him be able to carry a role in a movie. I don't really know much about Danny McBride, but I've heard Eastbound & Down is great, but I can't really comment on it. And Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor, but he's not a comedy man. At very least, he is in no way familiar enough with comedy to be able to carry a comedy movie in the leading man role. Not every actor can just step into a comedy and make it funny, no matter how amazing the script is. He has that whole quirky shy guy thing going for him, but when conveying a bomb is strapped to his chest, it's not funny as much as it is awkward.
I will give the movie credit in saying I did chuckle here and there. But the fact that it couldn't keep my attention from my phone (which I am a monster when people take out their phones at movies. It drives me nuts!) says it all.
However, there were two guys in the row in front of me who seemed to enjoy it. Is this one of the movies that just doesn't cross the gender divide?
[Edited on 1/9/11 by NachtcGleiskette]
The problem with this movie, I think, lies in two places:
1. Um, could there be a joke? There wasn't a single joke in this movie. Not a punchline to be seen. Now, I'm not sure if this is due to the writing or the acting. There were plenty of scenes where there seemed to be jokes, but they got lost because things were moving way too fast. And yet, it was the slowest paced movie ever. I wanted that movie over and checked my phone to see I was only a half hour in. Lose your audience in 30 minutes or less!
2. A string of second bananas does not a lead cast make. The big problem I think is that these guys are ACE as second bananas. I love Aziz Ansari in Parks & Recreation, where he's there for a quick joke or silly situation, but the story doesn't depend on him. Nick Swardson has hilarious stand up and is so funny as Terry in Reno 911, but I've never seen him be able to carry a role in a movie. I don't really know much about Danny McBride, but I've heard Eastbound & Down is great, but I can't really comment on it. And Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor, but he's not a comedy man. At very least, he is in no way familiar enough with comedy to be able to carry a comedy movie in the leading man role. Not every actor can just step into a comedy and make it funny, no matter how amazing the script is. He has that whole quirky shy guy thing going for him, but when conveying a bomb is strapped to his chest, it's not funny as much as it is awkward.
I will give the movie credit in saying I did chuckle here and there. But the fact that it couldn't keep my attention from my phone (which I am a monster when people take out their phones at movies. It drives me nuts!) says it all.
However, there were two guys in the row in front of me who seemed to enjoy it. Is this one of the movies that just doesn't cross the gender divide?
[Edited on 1/9/11 by NachtcGleiskette]