Shifting gears from the clunky mechanics of his deafening “Transformers” cash cows, blockbuster maestro Michael Bay momentarily ditches his rock-'em sock-'em CGI robots to tell a stranger than fiction tale of steroids, blood money and barbecued human hands in fact-based crime comedy-drama “Pain & Gain.” Inspired by the horrifying true story of a gang of Miami-based body-builders who kidnapped, tortured and butchered their way to fortune in the mid-1990s, it stars Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Anthony Mackie as a trio of dimwitted fitness freaks willing to get their hands dirty — and their toes blown off — to achieve the American Dream.
Tony Shalhoub is unashamedly unpleasant as their supposedly deserving victim: slimy, millionaire scumbag and self-made entrepreneur Victor Kershaw (real name and general demeanour changed for artistic purposes), who’s abducted, held captive and forced to sign over his every cent and possession to these scheming knuckleheads. Ed Harris is the retired private investigator tasked with aiding Kershaw’s case when the incompetent crooks’ multiple attempts to kill Kershaw, now crippled, fail miserably and when the authorities refuse to buy a single word he says — after all, who’d really believe that this drunken asshole was actually kidnapped and extorted by a bunch of crazy weightlifters dressed as ninjas?
There’s potential in this strange, almost surreal story for a great, biting satire displaying the futility of short-cutting your way to the so-called American Dream, but Bay is too concerned with the film’s flamboyant stylisation to care about cultural satire — whatever meaningful criticism the film has is murky at best, the film instead settling for flashy, excessive entertainment. Bay’s leery eye for the female figure remains problematic, as does his troublingly mocking attitude towards the homosexual community, plus here we have a truly horrific real-life story, grisly details and all, being told in a bafflingly comedic, lighthearted manner.
But wipe your memory of the real-life case, if your conscience allows you to do so, and “Pain & Gain” is a ton of darkly comic — if utterly tasteless — fun, bolstered by spirited performances from both its central muscle-head anti-heroes and its supporting players — Johnson in particular is an absolute joy as a coked up, bible-bashing ex-con attempting to set his life straight, all the while stealing and murdering his way to the top. Bay’s reliably high-octane direction keeps the story moving forward at an energetic speed while Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s sharp, funny script revels in the increasing ridiculousness of the situation (“Sometimes God just fucks up your order and you gotta chow down on that shitty shame sandwich,” narrates Wahlberg as he’s run over by a police cruiser). Morally repugnant it may well be, but it’s Bay’s most all-out entertaining film since 1996’s “The Rock” and, in one of many memorable highlights, it features the glorious sight of Tony Shalhoub’s taco-spewing face being tasered in slow motion — I'll take that over Optimus Prime action any day of the week.
Rating: 7/10
This is one of the most truly crazy, ludicrous, self-reflexive, irony-free, bizarre, and entertaining films to get wide release in quite some time. Can’t say I loved that aspect, but it made it unique in a way. Good review Stephen.
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