Pain and Gain (2013) review

(Note: Though this film is based on true events, they will not affect my overall thoughts on the film as a whole)

Director Michael Bay has certainly had an interesting career. His films are huge successes at the box office, and yet usually all of them get a negative reception from both critics and audiences. Most tend to call him one of the worst directors working in Hollywood today, if not the worst. To that I say… not really. Sure, when you get down to it, he’s no Martin Scorsese but even his worst films are better than films from directors such as ‘Seltzerberg’ and Uwe Boll. For his latest film, Bay goes for something a little different than what he’s normally known for; a small-budget dark comedy, ‘Pain and Gain’. As the trailers keep reminding you, this film is based on a true story that was documented in a 3-part article written by Pete Collins for the Miami Sun Times. But does it all work, even when considering the horrific events that it’s based on? Well, for one thing, making it a comedy might not have been a good idea, but in the way that only Bay can do it, the film does manage to be entertaining despite some noticeable flaws.

The year is 1994. Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is a bodybuilder who works at the Sun Gym in Miami, Florida. Hopeful of achieving the American Dream, he soon becomes tired of being poor and decides to kidnap one of his clients, the rich and spoiled Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), and have him sign over all of his money. With the help of his friend and fellow bodybuilder Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and recently released convict Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), the ‘Sun Gym Gang’ successfully capture Kershaw and has him sign away everything that he has to them. But, after Kershaw survives the gang’s attempt to murder him, he goes to private investigator Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris) for help when the Miami Police fail to do so.

There has been some controversy surrounding the film as to whether or not the film is making audiences sympathize with the Sun Gym gang, even when they really did commit kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder. It is true that the members of the gang are the so-called ‘protagonists’ of the film and the movie is marketed as a comedy, but it really doesn’t try and make you sympathize with them because it does get across the fact that these people were greedy, mean and also, on another note, rather stupid, even when they are played here by three very likable actors. However, the film would have worked out better had the writers didn’t make the gang’s victims despicable as well when they’re the ones we should be sympathizing with.

That’s where the movie’s biggest problem lies in that in some areas, it’s rather uneven. Aside from having both the ‘protagonists’ and victims be pretty unlikable, the film’s tone falls victim to the true story that it’s based on. Perhaps doing this story as a comedy wasn’t such a good idea because as crazy as it may sound to anyone who has not read into this whole situation further, this really did happen. People were kidnapped, tortured, and even killed by the Sun Gym Gang and yet the whole film tries to be a comedy. To be fair, the comedy does actually kind of work in the first half of the film, which focuses around the Gang’s attempts to kidnap Victor Kershaw. The three leads work off each other very well and there are some very funny lines spread throughout the film. But then once the film gets to its second half, things get much darker and serious which doesn’t match well with what we were watching before.

So while the film suffers in terms of tone, everything else surprisingly works. Even by Bay’s film standards, this is one of the better scripts and casts that he has worked with in his whole career. Despite playing very unlikable people, Wahlberg, Johnson, and Mackie all do very good jobs, with Johnson being the standout of the three. He actually manages to make his character a bit sympathetic because he starts out as a reformed Christian before he goes back to his criminal ways. We also have solid performances from the supporting cast, which includes Tony Shalhoub as Victor Kershaw, Ed Harris as Ed Du Bois, and Rob Corddry as John Mese, the owner of Sun Gym. Finally, in the way that only Michael Bay can, the film is pretty entertaining in the sense that it is never boring and that’s the best way that I can describe most of Bay’s films.in that, good or bad, they are entertaining popcorn flicks.

‘Pain and Gain’ is a Michael Bay film in every sense of the term. It’s stupid, crazy, but also strangely entertaining despite the fact that Bay tries to make a comedy out of true events that are quite disturbing when you read about it. This film probably would have worked better as a drama because as a comedy, it’s pretty uneven. The second half takes a dramatically dark turn which contrasts with the film’s more lighthearted first half and there is not a single character we can sympathize with; not even the victims of the Sun Gym gang. But as a whole, this is perhaps one of Bay’s better efforts. It has one of the best casts he has ever worked with along with a pretty solid, though partially flawed, script that is self-aware about how ridiculous the story is. All in all, ‘Pain and Gain’ is a solid movie and it’s good to see Michael Bay do something that is not Transformers related for once.

Rating: 3.5/5