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Pain and Gain by Michael Bay

Pain & Gain by Michael Bay

Based on a true story, a trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.

I’m going to start this review with a confession. Growing up on Michael Bay films, I enjoyed The Rock, both Bad Boys movies, the first Transformers and even Armageddon. I didn’t care much for Pearl Harbor but couldn’t see what was wrong with it at the time either. Whenever friends complained about any of Bay’s films, I just nodded along. In fact, I have never had a problem with Michael Bay films until Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. That cinematic experience forever changed me and since then I began to see what everybody was complaining about Michael Bay: the low-brow frat boy humor, his pornographic sensibilities and general shallow view of the world.

These Michael Bay-isms remain in Pain & Gain. Beautiful scantily-clad women magically populate a neon-colored world. The three bodybuilder characters worship material excess and deem themselves important people because they are physically superior. Michael Bay’s shallow pornographic style is  justified here as it represents how the three main characters’ view of the world. What’s interesting is it is an odd fit of director and material.

None of the three lead characters are likable in the traditional narrative sense. The characters are so vapid and their crime is planned so idiotically, Pain & Gain asks the audience to marvel at the characters’ stupidity and the comedy of errors their stupidity generates. The result is funny in a trashy politically incorrect type way. I felt guilty for laughing at times because it feels like Michael Bay is wholeheartedly laughing at these characters as well. Besides changing the character’s real names for the film, there seems to be a lack of respect for the lives of these characters or how their crimes may have affected them or their loved ones.

Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie and Dwayne Johnson do a good job at playing fools to good comedic effect. As the dim-witted Jesus freak Paul Doyle, Johnson shines as he gets to play a larger range than in his action or family comedy roles. Here The Rock is funny and dramatically compelling. This is probably his best role yet.

As the credits rolled, I wondered if Bay thinks he’s said something profound about the American Dream. Suffice to say, nothing profound was said. To quote a scene from Horrible Bosses, watching Pain & Gain felt like “entering the mind of an asshole.” It was fun and trashy, but I wouldn’t want to revisit it again. The material fits Bay’s sensibilities, and it works. But that doesn’t say much about Bay as a person.

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posted on October 1, 2013
by HK Auteur
filed under Thoughts on Films
tagged as "Pain & Gain: Where the Real-Life Sun Gym Gang Characters Are Now", $26 million budget, 2013 American crime-comedy film, action choreography, actor, Adrian "Noel" Doorbal, American cinema, American comedy, American dream, American film, Anthony Mackie, art direction, Art Director, Bar Paly, based on a story published in a 1999 series of Miami New Times articles written by Pete Collins, based on Cindy Eldridge, based on Jorge Delgado with counterparts of Carl Weekes Mario Sanchez, based on Marc Schiller, Based on Pain & Gain by Pete Collins, based on Sabina Petrescu, Bodybuilding, Carl Weekes, Christopher Markus, Cindy Eldridge, cinema, cinematographer, cinematography, cinematography by, Cinematography by Ben Seresin, Composer, crime comedy, 电影,影评, 电影影评, 發行, 监制, 監製, 編劇, 编剧, 美術指導, 美术指导, De Line Pictures, directed by, Directed by Michael Bay, directing, director, distributed by, Distributed by Paramount Pictures, Donald De Line, Dwayne Johnson, Ed Harris, edited by, editing, Editing by, Editing by Joel Negron Thomas A. Muldoon, Emily Rutherfurd, 配樂, 配乐, 電影,影評, 電影影評, 香港电影, 香港電影, film, film criticism, film distribution, film review, film studio, Florida, Francisco Alvarado, Francisco Alvarado's Miami New Times article, Ian Bryce, Joel Negron, Jorge Delgado, Keili Lefkowitz, Ken Jeong, Kurt Angle, Larry Hankin, make up, making it the cheapest film Michael Bay has ever directed since Bad Boys, Marc Schiller, Mario Sanchez, Mark Wahlberg, Miami, Miami New Times article, Miami New Times articles, Michael Bay, movie, movie review, movie studio, music, Music by, Music by Steve Jablonsky, musical score, original music, Pain & Gain, Pain & Gain: This is a True Story, Pain and Gain, Paramount Pictures, Paul Doyle, Pete Collins, Peter Stormare, Platinum Dunes, plot, plot summary, produced by, Produced by Donald De Line Michael Bay Ian Bryce, producer, producing, Rebel Wilson, Rob Corddry, Robin Peck, Sabina Petrescu, Scott Rosenberg, Screenplay by, Screenplay by Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely, screenwriter, screenwriting, Script, script punchup, Sorina Luminita, sound by, special effects, Stephen McFeely, Steve Jablonsky, story, studio, synopsis, The Rock, Thomas A. Muldoon, Tony Shalhoub, Victor Kershaw, visual effects, written by, Yolanthe Sneijder-Cabau, 出品人, 剪接, 动作导演, 動作導演, 原创音乐, 原創音樂, 发行, 导演, 導演, 摄影指导, 攝影指導, 故事, 中国电影, 中國電影, 演员, 演員, 作曲

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