The mark of a comedy is the six-laugh rule. For a short, if it gets two laughs, I think it's done its job. "Five Minutes" has wonderful performances from Rob Benedict and Bre Blair, but the material veers more toward cringe than proper comedy.
Cringe comedy is the most subjective form of an already subjective mode of storytelling. It plays directly off our personal experiences. Anyone can watch Buster Keaton and get the jokes, but a significant chunk of people who might watch "Bridesmaids" or any Judd Apatow production won't laugh because they lack the experience to relate to the awkward situations. This is the central issue of "Five Minutes" -- I know the short is comedic, but it didn't make me laugh.
Justine Bateman's short truly looks good, and she gets good performances from her cast. But I'm not a parent -- the material doesn't do it for me. I understand WHY someone might think the film is funny, but to me, it isn't. I appreciate it more for its subtext about sensitivity and modern attitudes toward censorship, and most of all for its indictment of adults who don't know how to listen.
