Chris Reviews Pain and Gain

This was one of those films that I thought looked interesting but probably would not have gone to see in the theaters because it is a Michael Bay film. When you are offered free admission and are going with a group of people it makes borderline films like this seem more appealing though. So was this a typical idiotic Michael Bay movie or was it a surprisingly enjoyable bit of satirical action? Well I guess you are going to have to read below to find out.

The Good-

Well I cant say that this is an intelligent film but it is pretty fun. There are a multitude of laugh out loud scenes and some really fun characters. The trio of Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie give solid performance with some pretty good chemistry.Overall there are many of the elements that should make for a good action comedy.


The Bad-

Despite the potential for this to be a good action comedy Michael Bay manages to ruin it like everything else in his infamous career. The first and most annoying aspect of the film is that the story is all over the place. The first two acts are chaotic but serviceable but the final act just completely falls apart, gets really weird and is overlong. Michael Bay's interpretation of this story is pretty disturbing as well as he tries to make light of a group of guys that not only stole lots of money but also murdered a husband and a wife, cut up their bodies and tried to dispose of them by putting them in cans of lye and throwing them into a swamp. I understand that it is supposed to be a dark comedy but the more I thought about the premise of this movie the more I was disturbed by Bay's interpretation.

Summary-

Pain and Gain is a really dumb, strange and outrageous film that it probably seems like I hate. While I do have a lot of problems with the film, it did have me laughing quite a bit and I give it credit for trying to be different than the average piece of crap film that has come out this year. Was it worth seeing in the theaters....for free yes but if you have to pay then I would wait to get it at redbox.

MY RATING

3 out of 5

-Chris "Da Franchize" Hart