New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Gallows humor only goes so far

Kim Hollis: 30 Minutes or Less, the comedic take on a real-life tragedy, opened to $13.3 million. What do you think of this result? Do you believe making light of the tragedy might have limited its appeal?

Tim Briody: The real-life tragedy is far enough removed that I wonder how much of the target audience was even aware of it. I think it certainly looks amusing, but by my count this is the 317th R-rated comedy released in 2011. The total is fine, it's not a complete disaster, but I'm pretty sure audiences could use a break.

Edwin Davies: I was completely unaware that this was based on a real-life story, let alone a tragic one, until three or four days before it opened. Considering the amount of time I spend reading and writing about movies on a daily basis, I can't help but think that normal people who just like to watch movies probably weren't all that aware of it either, so I think that any impact it had was probably negligible.

I think the main problem the film had was similar to that faced by The Change-Up; the marketing never really made it seem like there was all that much to the film other than the central premise, which looked fairly thin in the first place. Considering the glut of comedies this year, the idea of sitting through one that, based on its trailers, seemed unfocused and a bit short of ideas didn't seem like a good idea.

Part of me also wonders if the presense of Danny McBride in the trailers might have put people off. I personally love him in Eastbound and Down, but when it comes to films he seems to do best when his presence is limited. Plus he's still carrying around the vile stench of Your Highness, which can't have endeared him to, well, anyone.

Jason Lee: I agree with Edwin. This movie looked like a mere screwball comedy featuring "that guy from Parks and Recreation" than some comic interpretation of real life events. To me, marketing for the movie just made it come off as frenetic. I was not surprised at all by its tepid box office take.

David Mumpower: I guess my answer is personal here in that I watched the live events and I consider the Wired article on the subject to be the finest piece they've ever published. When I heard that this premise was being turned into a comedy, I cringed at the very thought of it and my discomfort never went away. Despite this, I thought the ads were freakin' hysterical and had expected 30 Minutes or Less to perform solidly. This debut is beneath my expectations and indicative of the fact that either people didn't like the ads as much as I did, the real life situation was a detriment, there wasn't enough star power or some combination of all three. Alternately, my box office radar was just way off. If you had told me this wouldn't match The Change-Up, I would have said you are nuts. Moreso than you probably are.

Continued:       1       2       3