I can do them, takes me around a minute or so. The fastest cuber in the US is actually a senior at Chattahoochee high school. His average time for five solves at the world championships in (Budapest I think?) was just over 13 seconds.

It's a memorized algorithm. There are different approaches, I've used one style forever but it's one of the slower ones. If you have someone teach you and practice for a couple of hours (long car rides are good, assuming you're not driving) you'll be set. And when you ARE driving, the cube's an amazing way to make traffic seem much faster. Try to solve before the light changes.