Not your predictable comedy

MANILA, Philippines - From the director of the acclaimed 2009 hip comedy Zombieland comes Columbia Pictures’ new quirky, action comedy 30 Minutes or Less starring Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride.

In the film, Nick (Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wannabe criminal masterminds (McBride and Nick Swardson). The lowlifes kidnap Nick and strap a time bomb to him — with the promise that they will blow him up unless he robs a bank. With only a few hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers and their own tumultuous relationship.

30 Minutes or Less began the road to the screen when the original action-comedy screenplay landed on the prestigious Black List, an inside-Hollywood tally of the best unproduced screenplays. Director Ruben Fleischer says that everyone involved with the project was first lured by the inventive spark of the screenplay and story. “It had a really original voice,” says the director. “I was excited to read a movie that wasn’t a straightforward, predictable comedy — it was hard to know where this movie was going when I was reading it.”

For his part, Fleischer says he was attracted to the project by a unique combination of factors — not least of which are the story and the characters.

Now showing nationwide, 30 Minutes or Less is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.