Three friends, Sam (Luke Mitchell), Mike (Jason Ritter) and Owen (Zane Holtz), all showing off in real life, are forced to commit a brazen robbery. What begins as a simple plan - 'in and out in seven minutes' - quickly becomes a dangerous game of life and death as complications arise. As each minute of the robbery unfolds, the stakes are pushed higher and higher. In the final act, Sam's pregnant girlfriend Kate is kidnapped, escalating the situation even further and pressing the trio to do whatever they can to make it out alive.
Filming primarily took place at several locations in Everett, Washington, United States in May 2013.[3] The film used extras from local communities, including the Everett High School and Cascade High School football teams for an overnight shoot in Arlington, Washington.[4] The production also leased police cars and other vehicles from the Everett city government for several scenes.[5]
7 Minutes received negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, it received a 19% approval rating and an average rating of 3.7 out of 10, based on 13 critics.[7] On Metacritic, it holds a rating of 35 out of 100, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews' based on 9 critics.[8]
In a positive review, Linda Bernard of the Toronto Star gave the film 3 out of 4 stars stating "A solid score and tight camerawork shows Martin's background as a music video director translates well to big-screen work."[9] Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave the film a C−, saying "though 7 Minutes does offer an impressive array of backstories for a film that initially appears to be about three semi-interchangeable guys, most of those backstories are still dominated by clichés".[10]
In a more negative review, Rex Reed of The New York Observer gave the film one star out of four, commenting "like most of today's young directors who neither want to nor know how to tell an actual story in a traditional way with a beginning, middle and end, writer-director Jay Martin jumps around like a spastic colon."[11]
