Pain & Gain

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Cordrry, Rebel Wilson, Ken Jeong, Peter Stormare
Directed by: Michael Bay
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Three bodybuilders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie) get involved in a kidnapping plot that goes horribly wrong.

Review:

Tim: I really did not care for Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. The best aspect of this movie is that it's "based on a true story". That is crazy, because this is the most insane, ridiculous, hard-to-believe story you'll hear. The film plays this up, at one point in the film, even visually reminding us that this is a true story. The problem is that the story is based on a true story, but it takes some huge liberties with what really happened. I just felt like it was a bit disingenuous to tell us that multiple times when some of the funniest/craziest parts of the film are quite exaggerated.

Besides that, Bay gives us a lackluster movie overall. At 129 minutes, this film is way, way too long. It's average or below average in nearly every category. Besides the crazy story, the movie isn't especially interesting or engaging. There is not a single character you can like in the entire film. The whole movie just felt pointless to me- I kept thinking, "Why should I care about anything on screen?" Bay never gave me a reason to care.

Mark Wahlberg leads the cast, and I suppose he does an average job playing this awful, unlikable character. He certainly got buff for the role, so that is impressive. I know he was playing an awful scumbag, but he certainly didn't seem to want to make him relatable at all. Wahlberg's performance was almost winking at the audience, asking, "Can you believe this guy I'm playing is real?" It just didn't sit right with me. I like Dwayne Johnson, and it was fun to see him play this amalgamation of two real-life characters (I told you this wasn't a very accurate movie). This is not Johnson's best performance, but he was one of the better aspects of this bad movie. I also liked Anthony Mackie's performance- he got huge for the film, and he adds a nice supporting turn. Tony Shalhoub did a good job playing the antagonist (or is he actually the good guy in this story?). He got to chew some scenery, so it was fun to see that. I love Ed Harris, but he just seemed old here, and he didn't have much to do.

Now, I have to admit there's some surprises, some crazy, unexpected events, and those keep the story moving along. That is much appreciated. It's obvious why Michael Bay and others thought this would make such a good story- if it wasn't based on actual events, people would claim it's the most ridiculous, hard-to-believe movie they've ever seen. Events in this film are often the kind that get people to say, "That would never happen in real life!" Except that in this case, they did. Those are the film's strengths. The problem is that Bay directs an inaccessible movie filled with awful characters, and never tells us why we should care. That made this two-hour movie feel significantly longer. I did not care for Pain & Gain at all. While the story is cool, everything else is a disappointment.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



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