Where does 30 minutes or less take place?

The filmmakers make a point of thanking the entire city of Grand Rapids, which serves as a backdrop for the action-comedy that opens nationally on Friday. The production set up shop locally for four months in 2010, with principal photography taking place over eight weeks in July and August. It boasts the biggest budget — rumored at roughly $20 million, although an official number was never released — and widest release — 2,800 screens — of any film ever shot entirely in West Michigan.

"I appreciate you guys letting us make a movie in Grand Rapids," said the film's director, Ruben Fleischer, calling from the Los Angeles production office of his next movie, "The Gangster Squad." "It couldn't have been a better backdrop for the film, and the cast and crew had a lot of fun being there. I was there for four months, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

”Hopefully we showcase the city well.”

"30 Minutes or Less" stars Jesse Eisenberg (Oscar nominee for 2010's "The Social Network") as a pizza-delivery driver who's kidnapped by two dopey thugs (played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) who strap a bomb to him and force him to rob a bank for them. Aziz Ansari (NBC-TV's "Parks and Recreation") plays the buddy who helps him.

Ben Stiller is a producer of the movie, which falls under his Red Hour Films production company. Fleischer previously helmed 2009’s “Zombieland” and will shoot “Gangster Squad” this fall with stars Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin.

Watch for these Grand Rapids references in “30 Minutes or Less”:

Taco Boy — Danny McBride and Nick Swardson eat at the restaurant on Plainfield Avenue NE.

Vito's Pizza — Jesse Eisenberg is a delivery boy for the West Fulton Street pizza joint.

Sixth Street Bridge and Brass Works Building, North Monroe Avenue area — Eisenberg runs across the first to visit his love interest in the second. Mr. Burger — Where Aziz Ansari suggests he and Eisenberg grab some lunch.

4 Star gas station — The crumbling, long-abandoned Plainfield Avenue location (across from the Taco Boy) lends the movie some, shall we say, "character."

Grand Rapids Police Department — The cops chase Eisenberg and Ansari after they rob a bank. South Division Avenue — Where the cops chase Eisenberg and Ansari after they rob a bank.

Grand Rapids' diversity — Listen for Ansari's quip about Indian people in Grand Rapids. It's the movie's funniest line.

— John Serba

Grand Rapids is referenced several times in the dialogue, and the city is prominently featured in the movie, with a car chase filmed on South Division Avenue and other scenes shot at local restaurants and landmarks (see sidebar). The bank robbery was filmed in Ludington.

One locale that’s enjoying its moment of fame is Vito’s Pizza, the West Fulton Street restaurant where Eisenberg’s character works in the film. During production, the actor spent time with employees to get a feel for the role, and the dining room got a complete Hollywood facelift prior to filming.

”When I first got a call about shooting a movie at Vito’s, I thought it was just a Grand Valley State University project,” said Vito’s owner Steve Grinwis. “Then a guy from Sony Pictures called me, and I still kind of blew it off. When a bus showed up with 40 or 50 people on it, and they swarmed the place like ants, measuring every nook and cranny of the place, I knew they were serious.”

Grinwis fed the crew pizza during shooting, which closed down the restaurant for two days. In exchange, he got to keep some props, which he displays in the dining room. He laughs when telling a story about scenes shot behind the restaurant by a dumpster. Crew members set up several bags of garbage and hired a security guard to watch the trash so it wouldn't be disturbed.

”They boxed up those same bags of garbage and shipped them back to Los Angeles in case they needed to reshoot a scene,” Grinwis said, chuckling. “That’s Hollywood for you.”

Another eatery that earns time in the spotlight is the Taco Boy location on Plainfield Avenue NE. Mention the name to Fleischer, and he immediately recites the restaurant’s slogan.

”’Home of the super burrito’,” he said, laughing. “It’s the kind of place suburban guys like Danny and Nick’s characters would eat.”

The film is expected to earn $16 million this weekend with total projected ticket sales totaling $53 million, according to Boxoffice.com. Its official premiere took place Monday night in Los Angeles, and although attempts were made to arrange a Grand Rapids event, scheduling conflicts with cast members prevented it. Grand Rapids-based theater chain Celebration Cinema staged an "Aziz to G.R." campaign on Twitter, but the star tweeted in reply, "Unfortunately with the 'Parks and Rec' shooting schedule I can't come to GR. But have an LD at Marie Catrib's for me please."

The "LD" refers to The Larry David sandwich at Catrib's, one of Ansari's favorite restaurants while he was in Grand Rapids. The actor and stand-up comic often was spotted in local restaurants and bars during filming, and performed two sold-out shows at Dr. Grin's comedy club. In a recent cast interview on MTV, Swardson joked that Ansari was "mayor of Grand Rapids" for the few weeks he was here.

Earlier this week, controversy erupted around the movie when a bizarre true story emerged about a Pennsylvania pizza-delivery driver who died after a bomb, chained to his neck by gunmen who forced him to rob a bank, exploded. The man's family felt the film exploited the tragedy, prompting Sony Pictures to issue a statement reading, "Neither the filmmakers nor the stars of '30 Minutes or Less' were aware of this crime prior to their involvement in the film."

”30 Minutes” is the first Grand Rapids production with a bona-fide theatrical release. “The Chaos Experiment,” starring Val Kilmer, filmed in 2008 and debuted on DVD in 2009. Rapper/actor 50 Cent’s films, including “Caught in the Crossfire” and “Gun,” went direct to DVD. “Setup,” shot in December with 50 Cent and Bruce Willis, will be released on DVD Sept. 20. Whether “Touchback,” the football film shot in Coopersville with Kurt Russell last year, or “Playback,” the horror movie starring Christian Slater, will see theatrical release has not been determined.

That prompted West Michigan Film Office director Rick Hert to compare “30 Minutes” to “Hardcore,” the 1979 movie shot locally by Grand Rapids-born filmmaker Paul Schrader.

Notably, “Hardcore” was controversial for its sexual content. “30 Minutes or Less” is comparatively lighthearted, but undeniably R-rated, featuring plenty of nudity, profanity and politically incorrect dialogue.

”The production is about the size of ‘Hardcore,’ although that got a smaller release,” Hert said. “’30 Minutes’ is a big a national release — a fun movie that shows Grand Rapids as a fun city.”

Hert didn’t disclose specific dollar amounts for how much the production spent locally, but he cited some statistics from a 30-page list of local vendors that benefited financially from the film: 12,000 room nights in hotels, five Datsun 240Zs painted to specifications by local auto shops. He rattled off oodles of other beneficiaries, including local fire departments, furniture companies, recycling services and caterers hired.

”We could use more of these, though,” he said.

The filmmaking community hopes “30 Minutes or Less” isn’t the last Hollywood movie to shoot locally. Grand Rapids film productions have slowed to less than a crawl since February, when Gov. Rick Snyder proposed capping the state’s lucrative film incentive at $25 million in annual tax rebates. Most productions are choosing Detroit over Grand Rapids; another film starring 50 Cent packed up and relocated to New Orleans.

Grand Rapids resident Tony Nawrocki is among many locals hired as extras and crew members for the shoot. He worked as a locations production assistant, and said he had more fun working for "30 Minutes or Less" than any other production in his two-year professional career.

”It was summer in Grand Rapids, and shooting in Michigan is always a good thing,” he said. “I was working like a dog, but I had an absolute blast watching the actors do their improv. It cracked me up, seeing Aziz go off the cuff.”

Nawrocki recently bought a car and plans to drive to L.A. so he can give up his current job at a shipyard and continue pursuing a career in film.

”As a locations assistant, I met and worked with a lot of community members and was like an ambassador for the film and for West Michigan,” he said. “I was really looking forward to getting more experience this spring and summer, but it didn’t happen.”

30 Minutes or Less (stylized onscreen as 30:Minutes or Less) is a 2011 American action comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña, and Fred Ward. The story follows a pizza delivery boy who is strapped with a bomb and forced to, with the help of his friend, rob a bank in exchange for disarming it. Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller, and Jeremy Kramer produced the film.

30 Minutes or Less was released on August 12, 2011, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $40 million against its $28 million budget. It garnered some controversy due to similarities with an incident resulting in the death of Brian Wells.

The film follows Nick Davis (Jesse Eisenberg), a man who works as a pizza delivery driver and rarely completes the "30 Minutes or Less" policy which leads to him being reprimanded by his boss. Nick's school teacher friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) discovers that Nick slept with his twin sister, Kate, on their high school graduation night, causing Chet to end their friendship.

Buddies Dwayne Mikowlski and Travis Cord are miserable, living under the shadow of Dwayne's domineering father, Jerry "The Major", who won over $10 million in the lottery about 10 years prior. Dwayne confides in lap-dancer Juicy about his contempt for his father and his presumed inheritance.

They devise a plot to kidnap a complete stranger, to strap a bomb to his chest, and get him to get them hitman money. They order a pizza and wait for a driver to come to their hideout. When Nick arrives, Dwayne and Travis assault him and knock him unconscious.

When Nick awakes, he is in a vest rigged with explosives, with both a timer and phone-activated detonators. The bomb will explode unless he gets them $100,000 within ten hours, and they also threaten to detonate the bomb if Nick notifies the police. Nick finds Chet, alerts him of the situation, and he reluctantly agrees to help Nick rob a bank. En route, Nick quits his job and then goes to say goodbye to Kate.

Nick and Chet hold up the bank and flee quickly. Dwayne says he and Travis will meet Nick at an abandoned rail yard to make the exchange, but go to a restaurant. Instead, Dwayne calls Juicy to get the hit-man to go. Juicy and the hit man Chango arrive to pick up the money, but do not have the bomb deactivation code. Chet appears and knocks out Chango with a metal bar while Nick incapacitates Juicy. The two grab the money and escape.

Frustrated by the turn of events when Nick refuses to answer the phone again, Dwayne activates the speed dial number on his phone for the bomb to explode, but Travis had altered the number. Rethinking their plan, he and Dwayne head to Kate's apartment in their masks and kidnap her. Chango breaks into the Major's house to find information regarding Dwayne's location and finds a hand-drawn map to the scrapyard. The Major attacks him with a pen gun, but is then shot by Chango after a struggle. Chango then heads to the scrapyard. Dwayne threatens to kill Kate unless Nick meets up with him at the scrapyard.

At the scrapyard, Dwayne gives Nick the code to deactivate and unbuckle the bomb with just minutes to spare. Dwayne has them at gunpoint but Nick has Chet fake having a sniper on them by pointing with his laser pointer. Believing him, Dwayne and Travis drop their weapons and Nick starts to leave with the money. However, Chango knocks him out, then has Dwayne at gunpoint, demanding the money. Dwayne gives the money to him, but Chango decides to still kill him and is torched with a flamethrower by Travis. While burning on the ground, Chango wounds Dwayne and shoots the gas tank on Travis's back, causing it to explode.

Nick grabs the money and leaves with Kate and Chet. Dwayne chases after them and when he is about to shoot Nick, the bomb explodes, seemingly killing him. (Nick reveals he reactivated the bomb and put it in Dwayne's van). While Chet looks at the money, a blue dye pack explodes in his face, making the rest of the money worthless. Chet then yells Sandra's name in anger for lying to them again.

In a post-credits scene, Dwayne (who survived the explosion), Travis, the Major recuperating in a wheelchair, and Juicy are seen in an advertisement for their new family business called "Major Tan: Tanning Salon", which is implied to be a cover for a prostitution ring.

In the alternative ending, Nick, Chet and Kate drive off with the money, discussing what they will do with their newly gained riches. Meanwhile, Dwayne survives the explosion. Annoyed with his plan's failure, he goes to see if Chango successfully killed his father. Dwayne finds his dad on the floor suffering from his gunshot wound and tells him about the tanning salon/brothel idea. His father is excited and tells his son that he is proud of him.

The final scene is at the Four Seasons in Atlanta, where Kate is managing the special events program. She joins Nick and Chet, who are chilling out by the pool enjoying their new lives. The deceased Chango has been blamed for the bank robbery.

Filming took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from July to September 2010, and a bank robbery scene was filmed at the vacant Ludington State Bank building—most recently a Fifth Third Bank—on James St. in Ludington, Michigan.[5] The film's screenplay was written by Matthew Sullivan and Michael Diliberti,[6] and the film was produced by Ben Stiller, through his production company, Red Hour Films.[7][8] The film was released on August 12, 2011.[9][10][11]

A screening of the film took place at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con with actors Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña and director Ruben Fleischer.[12]

30 Minutes or Less premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on August 8, 2011.[13] It was released via Sony Pictures on August 12 across 2,888 theatres.[14]

30 Minutes or Less was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 29, 2011, via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[14] It was released on September 16, 2011, in the United Kingdom.[15] The home media release featured an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and included multiple extras, including a directors commentary from Fleischer, two featurettes detailing notes from the cast and crew, 10 deleted scenes, and outtakes.[16]

30 Minutes or Less grossed $13.3 million in its opening weekend across 2,888 theatres, the film was released alongside Final Destination 5 and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie below studio expectations.[17] The film went on to earn a worldwide total of $40.5 million.[4]

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 44% based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 5.42/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's sporadically funny and it benefits from a talented cast, but 30 Minutes or Less suffers from a disjointed narrative, and too often mistakes crude gags for true lowbrow humor."[18] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews gives the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[19]

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film a positive review stating that it was made with "flair and ingenuity" despite being "entirely ridiculous."[20] Another reviewer gave a mixed review, criticizing the film for its violence, yet praising it for being "cheerful, willfully subversive, speedy, and lightweight".[21] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, criticizing Michael Diliberti's screenplay for its "lethally stupid" characters and "extreme dullness"[22]

The plot of the film bears a resemblance to a real-life bank robbery gone wrong that resulted in the death of Brian Wells in 2003.[23] As with the film, Wells was a pizza delivery man who was forced to wear a bomb and then robbed a bank under orders from the plot's mastermind in an effort to have the bomb defused.[24] Additionally, an investigation found that the motive behind the robbery was for Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, the convicted mastermind, to use the stolen money to hire a hitman to kill her father and receive her inheritance, also like the film.[23] Unlike the film, however, Wells was killed by the bomb after being caught by the police.

Despite the similarities to the case, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group said the filmmakers and cast had no prior knowledge of the incident, while the screenwriters were "vaguely familiar" with it. Nevertheless, the film drew criticism from Jean Heid, Wells' sister, and Jerry Clark, a former FBI agent who witnessed Wells' death and led the case's investigation.[25]

In 2010, the film set up shop in Grand Rapids for four months of production, and the city is referenced multiple times throughout the movie. After the bank robbery takes place, a big car chase scene rolls down South Division Avenue between Fulton Street and Wealthy Street.