Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Pain & Gain

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Pain & Gain - Review

Pain & Gain
(2013 - April 26)
Action | Comedy | Crime
2 hr. 9 min.

Rated: R Crude Sexual Content, Bloody Violence, Drug Use, Language Throughout and Nudity. NOT FOR CHILDREN it should have been Rated NC-17 in my opinion. Read more
Grade: D+
Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Christopher Markus (screenplay), Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Pete Collins (based on his magazine articles)
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie | See full cast and crew

From acclaimed director Michael Bay comes "Pain and Gain," a new action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie. Based on the unbelievable true story of a group of personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong. (c) Official Site

Pain & Gain is like a cinematic version of the Darwinian Awards, riddled with crass, crude, profane language and sexual references plus lots of barely clad buxom women, and plenty of sacrilegious humor. If none of that bothers you, you might just enjoy this film.

The audience in the fairly packed theater, where I saw Pain & Gain, certainly seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps it's just indicative of the type of audience this sort of film appeals to, but this audience laughed consistently at all the crude jokes and F words etc. As I often say, without all the profanity and crudeness they could have reached a much broader audience.

All that said, it is advertised as a crime/action/comedy and it does at times deliver laughs although the comedy is quite dark and at the same time appalling.

It is, to some degree, amusing watching how stupid these guys were/are, all the more amazing in that this is a true story about actual events of crimes committed by the Sun Gym Gang in Miami from 1994-1995. The old adage that truth is stranger than fiction applies here, while the bumbling criminal buffoons can be comical, at the same time it is horrifying that such heinous acts are being played for laughs.

Pain & Gain is effectively directed and staged by Michael Bey and the performances by the cast are adequate to good. I would like to have given this film a better grade, in that I can really enjoy a good black comedy, but because of the writing and directing for Pain & Gain chose to aim for nothing higher than the gutter, in good conscience, I just couldn't. This sort of 'entertainment' appeals only to a very limited audience.

Pain & Gain is a violent, offensive, "stupid true crime" story with no positive role models and few if any redeeming values which, to be fair, is often the case when portaging the lives of criminals and murderers.