Quick Review: Pain & Gain (2013)

PAIN & GAIN

BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
APRIL 26, 2013

Entertaining yet never quite exceptional, Michael Bay’s foray into the comical and violent true story of three Miami bodybuilders turned criminals starts strong but fizzles off into a stylized and indulgent farce of an action film. Mark Wahlberg does his best to keep the momentum going, but with the macho, dimwitted dialogue burdening the entire movie, there’s little he can do to save it from itself. Dwayne Johnson continues to break his typecast, delivering a sincere and childlike performance that is often the source of the film’s humor, basically allowing him to steal the show. Ed Harris is looking good and proves too well trained for a whimsical cinema such as this.

I look forward to his future detective work in a film that deserves him.

The biggest problem coming out of “Pain & Gain” is that none of the characters are likable by the end of the film, with Tony Shalhoub becoming the victim, even though you hate him most of the film. That, and the story gets so unbelievable that Bay has to remind you that this is “still a true story.” Though I am glad Michael Bay was allowed to do his passion project, I look forward to returning to big-budget blockbusters like “Transformers 4”.

RELEASE DATE
April 26, 2013

DIRECTOR
Michael Bay

WRITTEN BY
Christopher Markus
Stephen McFeely

BASED ON
“Pain & Gain”
by Pete Collins

STUDIO
Paramount Pictures

R
(for bloody violence, crude sexual content, nudity, language throughout and drug use)

ACTION
COMEDY
CRIME
DRAMA
129 minutes