In Pain and Gain we follow meat-head personal trainer Daniel Lugo (Mark Whalberg). It is 1994 and the setting is Miami. Lugo wants to live the American Dream (he wants cars, girls, a fancy house and piles of moo-la), but he is strapped for cash and so comes up with a crazy plan: to kidnap someone, force them to give him everything they own, and then live that dream to the extreme. He puts together a team consisting of Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and Paul Doyle (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), both of which are clients of his. For his victim, Lugo sets his sights on another client named Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), a snobb-ish, rich asshole. Not everything goes according to plan, but the gang still wind up living that dreamed about life for a few months before they are caught and thrown in jail. Believe it or not, this is a goofy comedy, it's all true and it's directed by Michael Bay of all people.
Mark Whalberg does a pretty great job as Lugo, but the real standouts here are Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tony Shalhoub, and Ed Harris. Dwayne's Doyle is a Christ-loving and god-fearing man who just wants to do good, but isn't afraid to knock a motherfucker out if need be. Once he starts living the high-life, he turns to Cocaine and his life quickly spirals downwards as his new hobby completely takes control of his life. His best scenes are before he gets all coked up. It's great fun to watch Doyle try to convert the Jewish Kershaw to Christianity, and some of The Rock's lines and the way he delivers them are comedic gold. Shalhoub is also super-great as Kershaw, but you only truly start to like him after you see all the shit he goes through and how he is left with zip after his ordeal. It's great to watch as he struggles to put his life back together, while just about everybody refuses to believe what he went through. Ed Harris plays Ed DuBois, a P.I who takes up Kershaw's case and is the only non-comedic one in the bunch. He does a fantastic job as a man who's only concern is justice. He's probably the most lovable one of the bunch here and his last scene is pretty superb.
With Pain and Gain, Michael Bay has finally found his sweet spot. It is by no means a serious film. It's tons of high-octane, roid-filled, super-insane-o, goofy fun. That said, Bay portrays Lugo's gang (who act as the focus of the film) for what they truly are: low-level criminals who don't have a single brain cell among them. They are bad, rotten people. While it is easy to have fun with their scenes (mainly due to some HILARIOUS lines and scenarios), not once are we encouraged to root these bastards on. In fact, it actually feels good to watch these people get busted at the end of the film (No, this is not a spoiler. We see them arrested at the very start of the film). Bay does right here for a change, and while he certainly doesn't restrain himself here at all, Pain and Gain is still his best film yet.
Pain and Gain is a film that moves along at a break-neck speed as it continually spirals into unbelievably insane heights. You won't believe what you are seeing on the big screen to be true, but sadly it all is, which makes the ultimate conclusion that much more rewarding. The bad guys get what they deserve. Pain and Gain is yet another film that explores a group's attempts at living the American Dream by doing bad things in order to fuel this lifestyle. With Sophia Coppola's Bling Ring out later this year (another film that focuses on the very same thing) it would appear we may be seeing the start of a new trend....I certainly hope so. Pain and Gain is a crazed, goofy, and super-fun roller-coaster ride of a film that enjoys throwing viewers through several insane loop-the-loops. It's easily the best comedy I have seen in a very long time. ALL HAIL BAY!
4 STARS out of 5
Oh yes, and Bar Paley has got one helluva perfect ass that Bay (as usual) LOVES to film. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!
Oh yes, and Bar Paley has got one helluva perfect ass that Bay (as usual) LOVES to film. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!
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