Pain & Gain

This black comedy is inspired by real events... but isn't as truthful as it claims. Daniel Lugo is a body builder works at a Miami gym as a personal trainer. He believes in the American dream and decides that if he can't earn the money to buy the things he wants he will steal it. His target is wealthy client Victor Kershaw, who Lugo suspects got his wealth illegally. He recruits fellow body builders Adrian Doorbal and Paul Doyle and set out his plan... they will kidnap Kershaw and force him to sign over all his possessions to them. Once they have him things don't go to plan.

Since this is a Michael Bay film one might expect lots of explosions but there are none here; there is still his usual style of direction. In some of the more comedic scenes this is effective but felt uncomfortable when things get nasty. Like most films that claim to be true it deviates from the facts of the real case. This serves to make our protagonists more sympathetic. From the start we can see that these aren't the smartest characters in town. On the plus side I did find myself laughing more than I expected and the cast does a solid job; most notably Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie as Lugo, Doyle and Doorbal respectively; I particularly liked Johnson's performance as a coke-addled bible-basher. Tony Shalhoub impressed as Kershaw and Ed Wood but in a suitably restrained performance as ex-cop private investigator Ed Du Bois, III who investigates to case and is the film's most 'normal' character. There are some decent action scenes as well as a few disturbing moments involving the dismemberment of two bodies. Overall I'd say that I enjoyed this more than expected; worth a watch if you are an adult fan of any of the stars... it's not for children!

Pain & Gain is a great movie with a very well developed storyline and an outstanding cast that have the ability both serious and funny which made them great casting for a movie I like this.Although it is very hard to believe,this is actually based on a true story,and as the movie continues it becomes more and more unbelievable,but are robed every now and again that it is actually a true story,which was clever because they obviously knew people would be thinking that throughout.This movie has different characters narrating throughout,which is something I have complained about in past reviews,I just think we should only be following one character,and when we learn about a different characters past it should still be the main character telling their story,I think it should have just been Mark Wahlberg's character telling the story instead of switching around to Dwayne Johnson,to Bar Paly and later on Ed Harris,they gave so much characters the chance to narrate which just really irritates me.The movie really is a breath of fresh air considering it is directed by Michael Bay,who's never done a movie like this before,and the characters are nothing like Mark Wahlberg,Dwayne Johnson or Anthony Mackie have played before. Pain & Gain is a very enjoyable movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good action or comedy.

Based on a true story about three bodybuilders who get involved in burglary and kidnapping in order to get all the money and wealthy lifestyle they desire,but to fact that none of them are particularity brainy dosen't help them.

Best Performance: Mark Wahlberg

I remember reading about this years ago. These idiots kidnapped and tortured this man until he gave up everything he owned. The actual account is significantly more chilling than depicted in the movie. The only embellishment seemed to be the stupidity of the villains. In actuality, it was their arrogance and hubris that got them caught.

Let me start this out by saying I hate Michael Bay. I hate Michael Bay. OK, OK, he's not the worst director in Hollywood. He's got his s**t together, and people are willing to pay him to glue together the worst movie ideas and turn them into a semi-watchable blockbuster. However, Pain & Gain isn't one of these movies.

"Wait, how does that make it good?" You ask? Well, my position is that Bay actually cared about this movie. He pitched this movie for years, even when he was a more struggling director, and nobody would buy it. Eventually, this movie was made on a measly budget of $26 million. Not exactly peanuts, but nowhere near the budget Bay is used to. I believe this encouraged him to put some real thought into it.

First of all, this is a dark, dark comedy at its core. It's Fargo ramped up to eleven and edited into the pace of a 2-hour-long seat-edging action thriller. The movie manages to go from serious, to gory, to slapstick all in a matter of minutes, and somehow still manages to work. It'll be impossible to keep yourself from cracking out in laughter, even though all of the characters are completely unlikable and self-absorbed. The movie constantly mocks gym jocks, self-help optimism, and class privilege. The acting is superb. All of the cast was well chosen, from Dwayne to Shalhoub and especially Wahlberg. And that shocking fridge horror moment comes with the realization that it all actually happened. Yes, unlike Fargo, that disclaimer at the beginning of the movie is an honest one, and the actual events are even more outrageous than this movie itself.

Most of the criticism seems to come from this movie being made as humor deriving from a true event, but I don't think it could have been done better any differently. All of the changes made to the events were understandable in order to make it watchable as a movie; Adding extra humor in order to balance the absurdity, merging a few characters into one much larger one, or even actually *toning down* a few parts to make them more believable. There are so many memorable moments that are permanently affixed to my brain, unlike other Bay films which are utterly forgettable. That makes this a cult classic, and easily one of my favorite movies.

The overwhelming sense I get from all the negative reviews on here is that the comedy in this true story is irresponsible and wrong. Well I think that's just a couple prunes trying to ruin a really good movie. I don't think Michael Bay set out or achieved any disrespect towards the victims. The absurd details of this case mixed with the excellent acting of the principal three actors create an extremely enjoyable movie with some laughs here and there. The editing is excellent and this movie should be rated at least a 7.1 One of the best if not the best movie Mr. Michael Bay has made. It deserves more credit.