Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #1 with $20,244,505
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $25,217,015
Gross Revenue: $25,217,015
Production Budget: $26 million
Director: Michael
Bay
After all the sheen wore off of the Transformers franchise and viewers were
able to take a good hard look at the embarrassingly sub-par sequels, Michael
Bay’s already-fragile reputation shattered into remnants of nothing but
ridicule; needless to say, initial buzz for his newest project was anything but
anticipatory. If there was one silver
lining concerning Bay’s pet project, which he had initially planned to complete
after 2009’s Revenge of the Fallen,
it is that the notoriously gaudy filmmaker would have make due with a modest
budget, one where shoddy storytelling couldn’t immediately be disguised with
pyrotechnics. Public perception of its
director aside, Pain & Gain was
still benefitting from a thoroughly stacked cast, with everyman Dwayne Johnson
appearing in his third of five high-profile releases this year, and Mark
Wahlberg definitely due for a strong performance after January’s painful Broken City. It was undeniably tasteless to try and put a
humorous spin on the real events surrounding a ruthless gang currently sitting
on death row, but Hollywood has never really deferred to the moral high-ground,
so maybe Paramount had found the right formula to appeal to moviegoers looking
for mindless entertainment. Though not
overtly thrilled with the majority of trailers surrounding the last wide
release before the 2013 Summer Movie Season, with indicators of some shocking humor
and blatantly over-the-top Michael Bay cinematic trademarks, I was able to
ignore the controversy surrounding Pain
& Gain’s subject matter and prepare for some crude fun.
Based on true events, Pain & Gain introduces audience to Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg),
a Miami-based bodybuilder who works at the Sun Gym but also moonlights as a
low-level schemer trying to find the quickest and easiest way to achieve the
American Dream. Lugo’s attention is soon
drawn to new gym member Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), a successful but
crooked businessman; recruiting fellow trainer Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie)
and recently-released convict Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), Lugo plans to kidnap
and torture Kershaw in order to steal his substantial fortune. Though their amateurish scheme encounters
several speed bumps, with the help of Sun Gym owner and licensed notary John
Mese (Rob Corddry), the “Sun Gym Gang” extorts millions and enjoys an
extravagant lifestyle, complete with trophy wives like Robin Peck (Rebel
Wilson) and stripper girlfriends like Sorina Luminita (Bar Paly). However, the tide begins to turn once Kershaw
escapes, because even though the police do not believe his “insane” story, the
vengeful victim contacts private investigator Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris) and
manages to convince him of the validity surrounding the crime. As their wealth begins to fade and police
activity starts to increase, the Sun Gym Gang set their sights on a different
target, growing increasingly irrational in order to maintain their status and
avoid imprisonment.
Despite my every attempt to thoroughly revile Pain & Gain, I found myself laughing
quite frequently at the insanity depicted, and that is thanks largely to the
strong performances of the cast and the unapologetically hedonistic style
brought to the screen by Michael Bay.
The characters depicted within this action comedy have to be some of the
dumbest and amoral thugs in the existence of humanity, but Wahlberg and Johnson
bring a charm to their roles that even the most tightly clenched of moviegoers
will enjoy. In fact, as a Bible-thumping
“reformed” convict, The Rock plays perfectly off of Wahlberg and manages to
deliver one of his best performances, one that showcases a razor-sharp comedic
timing and one which you are sure to be quoting for months. And make no mistake, Pain & Gain does not apologize for being a movie clearly geared
toward the male demographic, because between the crude jokes and the
cinematographic focus on sex, every one of Bay’s tools works together to
deliver the cinematic equivalent of visiting a strip club. Unfortunately, unless you are very forgiving
of someone as polarizing as Michael Bay and willing to throw rational thought
out the window, Pain & Gain
remains a gaudy and shameless film that relies on shock as opposed to
substance.
Between some of the thoroughly confusing writing and
the shockingly toxic nature of the film’s protagonists, Pain & Gain clearly isn’t for anyone searching for any kind of
substance at the theater…though that desire was moot the second the individual
chose a Michael Bay film in the first place.
For the first half hour, trying to piece together any coherence within
the script represents one hell of a task (and it certainly didn’t help that the
characters kept switching-off as the narrator), so by the time any kind of
momentum starts to build, it is likely that a portion of the audiences has
already checked-out. Putting it simply,
any script that would relegate comedic heavyweights like Ken Jeong, Rebel
Wilson, and Rob Corddry to largely underutilized bit parts could have
benefitted from some redrafting. And though
there are some very consistent laughs within Pain & Gain, by the time the end credits begin to roll and you
realize the true horror of the crimes committed, your conscience may shift into
overdrive…was it really okay to laugh with and root for sociopathic characters
that possessed no redeeming values whatsoever?
Taking all these factors into consideration, Pain & Gain may not be perfect, but I still think that it
represents a far stronger and more entertaining trip to the theater than anyone
was expecting.
With two of the most recognizable and universally-adored
actors in Hollywood at top-billing, Pain
& Gain was certainly primed to take top earnings in its first weekend,
and even though $20 million was a little shoddy in light of minimal
competition, financial executives have to be pleased. Such a performance was actually right in-line
with studio projections, which many analysts were forced to revise once the C+
CinemaScore suggested lukewarm overall reception. Michael Bay is obviously used to some bigger
numbers, but in working with a modest production budget, things could have
turned out far worse for a film whose numbers will plummet once Iron Man 3 hits this weekend. If anything, this newest action comedy proves
that, while The Rock is undoubtedly effective in caving someone’s face in, the
man deserves a larger presence in the crude comedy genre. In the end, Pain & Gain remains an unapologetically tasteless and dark
comedy, so while that fact limits overall marketability to mass audiences, one
has to respect the fact that Michael Bay was able to deliver a half-way decent
film.
Overall
Recommendation: Medium
