Dolor y dinero

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.

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.

Michael Bay's "Pain and Gain" is a very bleak, very dark comedy about three knucklehead bodybuilders in pursuit of their own American dream, even if the road there is paved with sex, drugs, torture, humiliation, and even murder.

Bay is shamelessly reputed for huge explosions, choppy editing, excessively flashy/glitzy cinematography, sexy women, fancy cars and (recently) giant robots. With "Pain and Gain" he returns to low-budget territory since his debut "Bad Boys" in 1995. The result - the film is a debauchery in style - it's all over the film. Although Bay cuts back on the explosions and robots (mercifully), everything else has Bay written all over it, and considering how morbidly ridiculous the film's subject matter is, Bay tackles it in such a head-on and energetic manner that the audience is whisked off for the insane ride ahead.

For this movie, he has assembled together Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie as the three bumble-heads who have their hearts set in the right goal but clearly lack the intellect to do so. All three men look jacked up, and play their parts as ridiculous as the part goes for it, especially Johnson, who clearly is having a blast showing off a completely different side of him as opposed to what we've been seeing him of late. Wahlberg plays a character so dangerously goofy and dumb one will wonder whether such a person exists in real life. Tony Shalhoub's unfortunate but still jerk-ish character sets the tone for most of the movie as his predicament grows from one spectrum of ridiculousness to another. By the time we've reached sexy Bar Paly's and hilarious Rebel Wilson's love interest characters, the audience have probably seen enough.

Then in comes Ed Harris as Detective Du Bois. Just when I thought the film was about to careen off the rails into insanity. He's the only sane person in the whole movie, and his presence helps bring balance and clarity to what was a ludicrous first half.

Comic relief is key in Bay's action films, but here he's going all out at comedy, and he sure does pull of the stops. The film is simply put, hysterical. The fact that it was indeed a true story makes it all the more hilarious to watch, who honestly can think of some story like this and pull if off straight?

I am aware that since this is a film, some liberties had to be made to the story and characters. Some scenes were undoubtedly exaggerated, but which one? Every scene looked and felt so surreal, every major character ridiculous, every line of dialogue inducing a chortle from the audience. But it was a dementedly fun ride, and Bay, after making two bloated sequels about giant robots, finally returns to his stride.

Pain & Gain honestly has too many flaws to name, but for some reason I think this is a pleasure to watch. It can be extremely funny and entertaining. Especially if you are into fitness than this movie is for you.

For years, Michael Bay's career has solely consisted of shoot em up flicks and apocalyptic disaster movies. One after the other, they've always told the same stories, utilized the same clichés and have been brutalized by critics everywhere. Personally, I never had anything against the guy. He does what he loves to do and almost 100% of the time gives his audience what they're there for. But don't mistake him as a one trick pony. Bay has been making a career of blockbusters for the sole purpose of having the luxury to make serious, less expensive movies. Pain & Gain might be proof positive of my point. It was quite a daring move for Bay to commit to such a bold feat as to make a film based on the true events of the Sun Gym gang. Like most of the film's critics (and there are quite an abundance of them), I agree that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to reenact the actual murders and backstabbing actions that these murderers did and play them up for laughs. Because, yes, this is indeed a comedy. Or is it? I can't tell what genre this movie falls under. But I cant deny thats its entertaining. I was very interested in the story of the actual events. What I'm trying to say is, the execution couldn't have been better in telling the story. The performances from Wahlberg, Johnson and Mackie were equally unique and insanely enjoyable. The three of them were able to capture the meat-headed simpletons that these criminals really were. The movie as a whole works. As a thriller, I was thrilled. But as a comedy, I was sort of indifferent. At times, I found myself laughing at some of the film's darker shaded sense of humor, and rolling my eyes at the cringe worthy, Adam Sandler style gross out jokes that the film unwillingly felt obligated to shove down our throats. An identity crisis, this film indeed had. When you get past all these cons, Pain & Gain is a well crafted, violent joy ride. Its one of the most underrated films of the year, and its worth your time in seeing it.