It would be tempting to criticize the grammatical error in the movie’s title, except that there are so many other worthy targets. Director Ruben Fleischer and star Jesse Eisenberg reunite after the amusing but overrated “Zombieland” for this wisp of a comedy about a pizza delivery guy who strapped into a bomb vest and forced to rob a bank by a couple of low-life crooks. If that doesn’t sound like a humorous set-up, perhaps that’s because it’s loosely based on the tragic case of Brian Wells, who exploded on live television in 2003 while a part of a similar plot. (The filmmakers have claimed they knew nothing of this story, but there’s a good takedown of this lie here.)
Danny McBride and Nick Swardson play the dubious masterminds, who need $100,000 to hire a hit man (Michael Pena) to kill McBride’s tyrannical dad (Fred Ward, who’s about the funniest thing in the film). Aziz Ansari plays Eisenberg’s best pal, who gets to tag along for the experience and contribute smartass soundbites. Both McBride and Ansari do their usual shtick, which for both of them is to play unappealing characters the audience gets to feel superior to. It’s tough to pull off without being kind of dehumanizing, and here it ends up feeling almost nihilistic. There’s never anything at stake emotionally, and the jokes don’t come from any realistic, character-based place. Maybe I’m just getting old, but this kind of darkly cartoonish crudeness (including casually tossed-off, unfunny racial insults) and violence (including people being shot and set on fire) just leaves me numb. It works a bit better in a less realistic environment (a la “Zombieland”) but in regular old Grand Rapids, Michigan, it comes off as callous, even without taking into account the eerie real-life parallels. Grade: C+
