Less than 30 minutes in, I found myself laughing.

I was definitely skeptical of “30 Minutes or Less.” Even with the promise of Danny McBride (“Tropic Thunder,” “Pineapple Express”) and Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland,” “The Social Network”), it threatened to be just another dumb screwball comedy. But as soon as I saw Eisenberg’s pizza delivery boy, Nick, connive his way out of forking over a late pie for free, I was hooked.

The movie takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a post-industrial town suffering from urban decay, A late-night call brings Nick to a scrap yard, where Dwayne (McBride) and Travis (Nick Swardson)—two deadbeats outfitted in gorilla costumes—jump him and knock him out with chloroform. Dwayne needs the cash that his ex-military dad (Fred Ward of “Tremors” fame) is holding hostage, and when Nick wakes up with a bomb strapped to his body, we learn that Dwayne isn’t willing to wait for his father to pass naturally; He wants the money now. To pay the hit man, he needs Nick to rob a bank—and there are only 10 hours until the bomb explodes.

At its heart, the movie satirizes Generation Y’s sense of entitlement and pokes fun at the plight of our recession-plagued world. Dwayne feels so entitled to his dad’s money that he’d kill for it. Nick is stuck in a dead-end job. His best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari), has just begun his career as a teacher but is all too willing to abandon it  (“Teachers make shit money anyway”). Helping his buddy rob a bank is exciting and gives him a sense of purpose, even if it is in a backward, twisted kind of way. All of the characters feel entitled to a better life, and they’re scheming to get there—some with more success than others.

We’ve seen this kind of premise before—dopey young man needs to get out of an impossible situation before he unintentionally kills everyone within a 50-foot radius—and the jokes aren’t the most original. However, the acting sells the story, and Ansari and Eisenberg both have impeccable delivery.

The movie’s only real failing is in the relationship between Dwayne and his partner in crime, Travis. Their friendship does not resonate authentically like Chet and Nick’s does. Travis’s only really funny bit is when he is pretending to fix a banister while trailing the bomb-clad Nick. McBride’s Dwayne is humorous enough, but the character comes across as more thuggish and mean I would expect from a comedy.

Overall, “30 Minutes or Less” is an excellent movie to close out the summer. It’s not wholly unpredictable, but it accomplishes its goal: a laugh a minute for the audience. Even the end is satisfying—except for one major plot point left dangling. If you notice it, comment below or write to me jess@jesshuckins.com. We can commiserate together.

The early reviews are in for “Your Highness”- and the verdict isn’t good. The medieval costume drama spoof has a 24 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Salon.com film critic Andrew O’Hehir mused about whether it was the worst film of all time. At the screening I attended, a fellow critic glanced at me after the show with a look normally reserved for trauma victims.

Indeed, not all of the jokes work in “Your Highness”- I’m not even sure most of the jokes work. But I’m not going to hate on “Your Highness”. Because while it’s stupid, hare-brained, strangely composed and pretty badly written, it managed to do what most comedies fail at: it really made me laugh.

The idea of creating a plot synopsis for this movie is like asking for an in-depth discussion of a Ke$ha song, but here goes: Thaddeus (Danny McBride), the younger son of a king of a faraway land feels overshadowed by his dashing, handsome elder brother Fabius (James Franco). After Fabius’ fiance (Zooey Deschanel) is kidnapped by an evil wizard (Justin Theroux) to be impregnated, Thaddeus accompanies his brother to get her back.

Ignore the fact that it’s basically a less funny Monty Python. Though it isn’t worthy to wash Monty Python’s feet, it does have its own offensive charm. Bad British accents, fart jokes and gratuitous dismemberment abounds. The jokes that work (including a particularly inspired piece involving a minotaur penis), work precisely because you feel slightly ashamed for laughing. Part of me felt I should be above the scatological, low-brow, obvious pot joke shitstorm that is this movie. But God help me, when Theroux crows triumphantly, “It’s too late! The Fuckening has begun!”, it was the most I’d laughed in a long time.

Not nearly everything works. There’s a far too long bit with a Yoda-like child molester called the “Wise Wizard,” and if this movie has a lesson, it’s that you shouldn’t ever include a child molester bit unless it’s the funniest bit of your life. And McBride is not a comedy leading man- there’s no lovableness to balance out all the homophobia and masturbation jokes.

This isn’t a smart movie, but it’s a fun one. Objectively I agree with all the negative reviews, but why hate on a brief stoner movie that brought me two hours of legitimate entertainment? I’ll bet anything you’ll feel a little bad about laughing. But laugh you will.

The animation is hokey, the storyline is outrageous and the creatures are as bizarre and corny as they come, but the reason “Land of the Lost” was so damn great can be summed up in five words: Will Ferrell and Danny McBride.

Without the charisma and chemistry that both actors have together, Universal’s “Land of the Lost” remake would have remained flat and stupid and definitely a kid’s movie. Whether it’s remnants of their work together on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” or the fact that Danny McBride can’t open his mouth without cursing, the twosome brought an edge to a film that otherwise could have easily passed under the box office radar.

Though the 1974 TV show and its 1991 remake are both marketed as children’s shows, this remake is marketed more as a parody than an adaptation. The bottom line: Don’t bring your kids to this film unless you want them to walk our grabbing each other’s breasts to say hello, dropping the F-bomb and wanting to get intoxicated off alcoholic fruit. “Land of the Lost” more than anything else, is a kid’s movie made for adults.

Creators of both the original series and its remake, Sid and Marty Kroft, were involved in the story’s big screen adaptation, and it can be seen through the story’s slightly distorted similarities. The original series followed the adventures of Rick Marshall and his kids Will and Holly. Here, the film follows the adventures of Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell), but with the help of his lovely British assistant and fan Holly (Anna Friel) and their unexpected companion, Will (McBride). Cha-Ka, a T-Rex named Grumpy and Enik all are involved again in the story in slightly altered, comedic forms.

What’s best about “Land of the Lost” is that it doesn’t shy away from its corniness; it embraces it. The acting feels cartoonish “" something Ferrell exhibited in his films like “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights” and Friel mastered in the unfortunately deceased “Pushing Daisies” “" and it fits the film perfectly. Both portray their characters as completely involved in the theory of alternate universes and the lost land they discover, but to such a point that it’s funny for the audience to watch.

McBride’s wry cynicism “" which he has perfected in just about every role he’s ever been in “" is the perfect counterpoint for Ferrell’s and Friel’s dedication to their cause. Every scene that has Ferrell and McBride interact in any way is better than it would have been with a different actor in their place. Ferrell and McBride alone make “Land of the Lost” worth seeing.

“Land of the Lost” isn’t the best comedy film out this summer by a long shot. If you’re looking for a movie that will have you howling with laughter from the absurdity of it, you should have gone to see “The Hangover” instead. But “Land of the Lost” was a surprising addition to the summer comedy line-up and will definitely surpass whatever expectations you had for it.

In Universal Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of “Land of the Lost,” Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell), his research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and redneck survivalist Will (Danny McBride) find themselves transported to an alternate dimension where dinosaurs still roam the land and crabs are the size of small trucks. They must either escape to their own world and become heroes or stay trapped forever in the Land of the Lost.

In the spirit of the movie, Blast is holding a contest to give away passes to a pre-screening of the movie to be held Monday, June 1 at 7:00 p.m. in Boston. Submit a picture of yourself trapped in the Land of the Lost to schwartz.t@blastmagazine.com. Our 10 favorite submissions will win tickets to the pre-screening and have their pictures posted to the site. The contest ends Wednesday, May 27. Good luck!

“Land of the Lost” is directed by Brad Silberling and hits theaters June 5.

Ben Stiller might not act in the greatest movies, but he sure knows how to write and direct them. With ‘Tropic Thunder’, Stiller creates an explosive new comedy that’s sure to blow anyone’s socks off.

‘Thunder’ starts off right from what its trailer sets up: director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) wants to create the greatest war movie of all time, but his lead actors in his film-based-on-a-book-based-on-a-true-story (but is it?) don’t have the emotional scope needed to understand the complexities behind the Vietnam War.

After some difficult struggles with his prima donna actors: Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Cockburn is convinced by the author of the book Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) to drop the actors in the middle of Vietnam and shoot the movie ‘guerilla-style’. Both the film and the book in the movie are named ‘Tropic Thunder’, which is where the title of the actual film comes from.

It takes about 20 minutes for Lazarus, Portnoy, Speedman, Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) to be stranded in the middle of nowhere in Vietnam, thinking that they are filming a movie that had suddenly become very real. The movie just becomes funnier as it goes along, with the actors never being quite sure whether or not they are actually in a movie or not.

Also, as a slightly-spoilerish warning, the ad you will see for “Booty Sweat” is not the cinema going insane, but rather marks the completely inventive and perfectly hysterical introduction to “Tropic Thunder”. You have been warned.

While not as outlandish as ‘Zoolander’ was, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is set outside our reality in a way that everyone can understand. Ben Stiller has said in previous interviews that he wrote ‘Thunder’ as a parody of the movie business and, even if no one in the audience understood it, it would still be hysterical to him. Well Ben, we get it, and it’s still pretty funny.

Unexpected were the many cameos, both big and small, made by some of Hollywood’s biggest actors. Matthew McConaughey has a surprisingly big role as Speedman’s agent, and Tom Cruise definitely deserves all the buzz he’s been getting as the big-time film executive behind ‘Tropic Thunder’. Danny McBride was hysterical as the pyromaniac effects guy Cody. Also keep an eye out for Bill Hader, Tyra Banks, Maria Menunos, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Alicia Silverstone, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jon Voight, Christine Taylor and an I-can’t-believe-he-did-that Tobey Maguire (don’t be late or you’ll miss that one). Oh yeah, Stiller got them all.

Sure it may not be the most outright intelligent film to make a mockery of Hollywood, but there is plenty of insider humor that can be relished by all. The scene where Lazarus explains to Speedman why he didn’t get an Oscar for his role as the mentally retarded boy Jack in his film ‘Simple Jack’ because he went “full retard” was one of the funniest scenes in the film.

Downey was hysterical as Lazarus who becomes so immersed in his role that he changed his skin color in order to become more in character. Black was very two dimensional and not funny as Portnoy, the heroine-addicted fat guy. And Stiller was, well, Stiller.

The most break-out role in the film was hands-down Jay Baruchel, who many will recognize from “Knocked Up” and “Million Dollar Baby” but who has not landed a leading role since Judd Aptow’s lesser known but just as short-lived TV series, “Undeclared”. Baruchel’s character Kevin Sandusky is very similar to Baruchel in real life: he is an actor who has gotten his first big role and is playing everything by the book, like going to the boot camp training that had been assigned and learning how to read a map, while his fellow actors just brushed everything off. As the only one with a lick of common sense, Baruchel has some definite potential and it seems like we can expect big things from him in the future.

‘Tropic Thunder’ so far has been the best comedy of 2008, and it very much deserves that title. While the movie will keep audiences laughing well into the credits, it brings about two important questions: Why hasn’t Ben Stiller written and directed more movies, and will this be Tom Cruise’s big comeback (in more than one way)?

The not-so-viral stunt that made going to see “Tropic Thunder” a must. This clip is property of MTV Networks, no copyright infringement intended.

Oh yeah, Carl makes a cameo too. See if you can spot him!