Pain and Gain
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Bar Paly
Directed By: Michael Bay
Reviewed by Danielle Muir
[rating: 2/5]
It’s a shame Bay couldn’t decide which tone to set or keep this mess from bloating, because Pain and Gain is adapted from a brilliantly unbelievable true story. Three muscle-obsessed halfwits led by a particularly greedy Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) decide the clever thing to do is rob millionare Victor Kershaw (Shalhoub). Their lack of experience and brains leads them down a disastrous road of extortion, dismemberment and substance abuse as they attempt to grasp blindly at the straws of wealth and hold on tight.
From the trailer it seems Bay’s gone the balls-out comedy route, and you expect over-the-top performances, a few stylized stunts and funny one-liners. Pain and Gain kicks off as such but eventually descends into a disturbing kind of moral decay, that isn’t particularly funny and is unexpectedly brutal. When coupled with extended scenes of bland dialogue, frustratingly dense characters and a bloated run time, the film seems like the result of Bay being unable to part with any footage due to it all being so unbelievably true. Seriously. Scenes drag and the actors can’t pull off the improve necessary to stay entertaining.
The films narration jumps between characters as we delve into their past and colourful thoughts about the whole shmozzle. Wahlberg’s Lugo is so delusional, unlikeable and eventually foul that your rooting for a cop to shoot the damn target and end his (and our) misery – Mackie’s Adrian Doorbal isn’t much better as an overcompensating steroid-head with an impotence problem (his relationship with the underused Rebel Wilson is cause for a few laughs). In fact The Rock’s Paul Doyle is the only one you feel any remote empathy for – a born again Christian who just seems to get the wrong end of the stick. The three do have good chemistry between them, and they all bounce their stupidity off each other quite well – but when left to their own devices things are fairly bland. In fact, the funniest performance goes to underclothed stripper Sorina Luminita (Paly), the daft immigrant who’s essentially palmed off to each man as a sex-toy and believes the lies with wide-eyed innocence. Just as well we don’t watch Bay films for their sensitive portrayal of women.
Bay’s shooting style is visually striking, combining some extreme slo-mo and gritty handicam shots with a technicolour palette – he sporadically pops in titles with one strategically placed ‘This is still a true story’ being particularly perfect (title’s more consistently would have added coherency). Of course when it comes to the darker themes the style reverts back to generic and it does feel a bit of a mish-mash. Perhaps if he went the Sean of the Dead quick edit/fast-paced route the film would have been more enjoyable, instead of throwing us unexpectedly into such heavy themes.
Had Bay chosen one coherent direction for the film, this could have been a ludicrously funny film about three dimwits fumbling their way to riches, or disturbingly dark story of murder and greed. Instead, it’s a real drag.
