MOVIE REVIEW: 30 Minutes or Less

2011 has given us comedies from a sequel to a huge box office hit two years ago (The Hangover 2), to a pair of unexpected box office hits (Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses),one that should have been a hit (The Change-Up) and a bomb (Your Highness). Add another one to the list with 30 Minutes or Less, the second feature film directed by Ruben Fleischer, who helmed Zombieland, one of 2009's best made comedy films.
He teamed up again with one of the actors of Zombieland: Jesse Eisenberg, now an Oscar nominee, for this short 83 minute film about a pizza boy (Eisenberg), who was strapped with a bomb on his chest by two dimwits played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, in order for him to rob a bank to get money to pay to kills McBride's character father played by Fred Ward and get his inheritance.
This is a funny film about two best friends (Eisenberg and Park and Recreation's Aziz Ansari), trying to outwit the other two best friends (McBride and Swardson). Nothing of the film's short running time was wasted and you'll laugh all the way from start to finish.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Change-Up

Body switching has mostly been a staple of Hollywood movies, from Freaky Friday, both the original and the 1997 remake starring Lindsay Lohan, Like Father, Like Son (1987) starring Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron and Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage. All of them are family films, good for all ages but those who saw those films, including me have aged and now comes The Change-Up starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. It is the only R-rated body switching that I know of.
Bateman and Reynolds play best friends who both have lives at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Jason Bateman plays Dave Lockwood, a successful lawyer living the married life with his wife played by Leslie Mann and their three children: a daughter and twins. Ryan Reynolds is Mitch Planko, a struggling actor, who is single and lives the life of an eternal, carefree bachelor. The two had been best friends since childhood.
After a night out wherein they both wished that they had each other lives over a magical fountain, they exchanged bodies. It is a sight to see that both Bateman and Reynolds, both good comedic actors in my book, have an excellent chemistry together and just play the complete opposite of their characters instantly and hardly without any effort. Leslie Mann is always a good comedic actress and this movie also proved to me that she is a MILF. And Olivia Wilde is given ample time to show that she can be funny too.
The gags are so raunchy but it goes well with the story and the wonderful performances. I saw this film two times at separate advance screenings and both times made me laugh. Jason Bateman already has Horrible Bosses and now this, he is arguably the top comedic actor of the summer movie season 2011 and for Ryan Reynolds, this is his better summer film compared to Green Lantern.