Review of Pain & Gain (2013) by Thequietgamer — 20 May 2014

Definitely something out of the norm compared to Michael Bay's more recent movies. Rather than focusing on huge explosions and other large action set pieces, this one is largely focused on it's crazy story that is based on actual events. For a film that's part comedy, I found that the humor often failed to connect. Still, despite that this is one that is still worth a watch thanks to it's great cast and unbelievable story.

As always Mark Wahlberg nails it. His performance, along with the rest of the cast, is excellent. However the real show-stealer here I found to be Dwayne Johnson. This is probably one of the craziest characters Johnson has ever played, and he plays it to darn near-perfection. As far as plot goes this is one of the craziest movies I have ever seen. There's a lot of crazy and shocking stuff happening on screen, and most of it because of how hilariously idiotic the characters are. Obviously there are differences from the actual events, but I was surprised to find out just how much was gotten right here. Honestly it might not be the best or smartest film out there, but it is quite entertaining. Especially when you consider that it's based on a true story.

Overall it's a good movie. Not everything comes together perfectly in the end, and the humor never really connected for me outside of a few one-liners, but it's still worth a watch. It's one of the crazier movies I've watched in recent memory, and that actually makes it pretty fun despite the violent and disgusting stuff that often happens on-screen. My total score for the film is a 7.8/10=Good.