9.05.2011

I Hate That I Ever Saw This Movie.


I'm sure most of you have heard of the movie "30 Minutes or Less". It's been out for about a month now and I actually saw it a few weeks ago. It was okay, not terrible but definitely not one of the funnier movies I've seen. I was talking to a friend the other day when he told me that the movie was actually based on a true story. I didn't think there was anyway that this could be true, but after doing a little research, I found that it actually is (even though the director supposedly has never heard of it). At first, I had no problem with the director making a funny movie about a true story event. Until I found out that the real life pizza delivery man was killed by the bomb that was strapped to him. It absolutely sickens me that someone had the balls to even think of trying to put a "funny twist" on such a horrific event. Especially one that happened as recent as 2003. I can only imagine the horror his family suffered when they learned that a movie was being made that was based on their loved one's death. When asked about the criticism he'd received for the movie's "similarities" to the real life story, this is what Ruben Fleischer (the director) had to say:

"Well first of all, anyone who hasn’t seen the movie can’t judge. Because they haven’t seen the movie, and it doesn’t really relate to that story other than the fact that there’s a bomb strapped to somebody’s chest. They’re not really related in any way, so I think a lot of people are prejudging it without information."

Here's a list of similarities that I found online between the real life event and the movie. I call bullshit.

                                                      30 Minutes or Less                      Real Life Story
  • Premise
  • A pizza delivery guy goes to a far-out location, ends up with a bomb strapped to his person and is forced to rob a bank.
  • A pizza delivery guy goes to a far-out location, ends up with a bomb strapped to his person and is forced to rob a bank.

  • Setting
  • Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Erie, Pennsylvania

  • Pizzeria
  • Nick works at Vito’s Pizza.
  • Wells worked at Mama Mia’s Pizza-Ria.
  • Delivery car
  • Nick drives a Mustang 5.0.
  • Wells drove a Geo Metro.
  • Motive
  • Dwayne (Danny McBride) thinks his rich father is spending money on stupid stuff, so he tries to get some quick cash to have his old man killed to speed up his inheritance.
  • Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong allegedly needed Wells to rob the bank to get the cash to pay to have her father killed. She believed her father “was blowing through his fortune — money she expected to inherit.”
  • Partner in crime
  • Nick gets help from best friend Chet (played by Aziz Ansari).
  • Wells robbed a bank solo.
  • Wild women
  • A stripper agrees to help Dwayne hook up with his father’s would-be assassin, Chango, played by Michael Peña.
  • Wells became involved with the collar-bomb plot because he had a relationship with a prostitute. He bought crack, which he gave to the prostitute in exchange for sex.
  • Timing
  • Nick is just about to finish his shift when he gets sent on one last delivery. (You can play a Paperboy-esque pizza-delivery game on the movie’s website.)
  • Wells was at the end of his shift but agreed to one last order, which he left with around 2 p.m.
  • Post-caper situation
  • After the bank robbery, Nick and Chet escape arrest with the bomb intact.
  • Wells died shortly after his bank robbery while surrounded by authorities.
















1 comment:

  1. True! I saw the story on the ID channel. It was very sad and the delivery guy thought the pd were going to help him and they WATCHED him get blown up.

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