yvesdemaria such an entertaining and fun movie!!The actors play incredibly well, specially mark wahlberg and the rock, mark wahlberg being so motivated and so serious about everything all the time and the rock playing the former inmate which found god both were so funny and acted extremely well.All the time the misunderstandings between characters was so hilarious, the satire, irony and dark humor are absolutely on spot.Quite some people criticized the movie because it is a true story, however there are tons of movies about true story with serial killers or dramatic events so i think it doesn't affect the movie.9/10 , don't hesitate to watch it you wont regret it.

rjm-geo Watching this movie I had a sudden insight, hitting me like a van driven by Dwayne Johnson: the Transformers are not bad movies because Michael Bay is a bad director. They are the way they are because that's what people pay to see and Michael Bay can make that kind of movie better than anyone else.Pain and Gain is a movie that Michael Bay wanted to make, and it's a great movie because he didn't need to make it a blockbuster and he didn't have to go for a lowest common denominator audience. Left to make a fun, small scale movie, he demonstrates just how good he can be.The story of Daniel Lugo and co. is horrifying and lurid, but also entertaining and fascinating. For the movie to work the protagonists can be portrayed as neither sympathetic nor repulsive. It's a demonstration of just how good Bay is that he nails this perfectly from start to finish.The events are not so much based on a true story, so much as it is a faithful re-telling of the actual events. They are already so crazy that there was no need to add anything - the main changes are some compression for dramatic tightness.Cast is game, very game. Ed Harris is particularly good in the role of Ed DuBois, the private detective who is our sole window of sanity in the film. Tony Shalhoub also hits just the right mix of abrasive jerk and sympathetic victim as Victor Kershaw.The camera work is lush, Miami Vice style, full of saturated and warm tones. Editing is tight. Soundtrack well chosen.All-in-all I can't knock a point off. It perfectly succeeds what it set out to do. The subject matter may not be to everyone's taste, the combination of fascination and horror, but no one should deny the skillful execution of the telling of it.

mrbassman777 This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I find it incredulous to believe that human beings could actually be as stupid as they are portrayed to be in this film. By the time I had watched three-fourths of the movie, I wanted bad things to happen to the three protagonists, as they would deserve whatever came their way for being utter morons. The film is filled with crude humor and vulgar language, that just comes off as being in poor taste. This movie is a monument to the glorification of crime and getting what you want without earning it. I would not recommend this film, it is unwatchable.

Bryan Kluger The film takes place in the year 1994-1995, which I'd imagine is Bay's favorite time period as we meet Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), who is an ex-con who got a job at a body building gym as a personal trainer. The one thing Lugo desires and constantly reminds us about is that he wants to the American Dream and thinks that he deserves to be rich and famous because he has muscles. Instantly, we see that Wahlberg has an odd charm about him, but it's a hypnotic charm as he can easily be the worst scumbag on the planet.Lugo convinces his friend and work-out partner at the gym Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) that the both of them deserve better than being trainers in this world, and that they both indeed are worthy of riches. However, instead of going about it the right way, Lugo, who has a strange and powerful way in talking to his friends to get them to do what he wants, persuades Doorbal in a crime spree that when read on paper, seems to not be true, but after a bit of research on the case, every bit of it was true.Lugo and Doorbal figure out that they need the help of one other person for their crime to be carried out where they run into Paul Doyle (Duane 'The Rock' Johnson) at the gym. Doyle is a former prison inmate, former coke-head, but now has turned sober and to Jesus. The Rock's charisma follows him from picture to picture, and even though he is a bad guy here, you can't help but like the guy. Unfortunately for Doyle, it was a case of picking the wrong gym in Miami to work out in as he was persuaded by Lugo to join their team.Their brilliant idea was to become friends with one of Lugo's clients at the gym, who was always talking about how rich he was. It was a plan to kidnap him and force him to sign all of his money and assets away to Lugo. The plan was only supposed to last a day or so, but as the kidnapped client wasn't cooperating, the three bodybuilders resorted to torture and attempted murder for over a month. I say attempted murder, because they tried to kill him by blowing up his car with gasoline with him inside it and even running him over, but they guy still survived. And you can't have just one taste of the criminal world, so the three decide to do the same thing again to another rich guy in Miami, and again, things don't go as planned. However this time, the rich guy is with his wife and are brutally murdered amongst many other things that if I wrote them out, would be a rated 'X' article.The fatal flaw in these three characters is that they are all very dumb people who can't seem to think for themselves and will do whatever anyone tells them to do. There crime escapades play out like a slap stick version of 'Goodfellas' as they can never seem to get anything right and are constantly fumbling around. The other flaw in the film is that virtually, no character is likable in the film. Even the victims by the three are not likable in any way. The only two decent characters in this painful movie have very little screen time and don't add a lot to the story other than maybe a minor laugh or two.It's as if Michael Bay was tired of making kid's movies for a while, and decided to put all of his yearning over the past few years to make a hardcore, brutal action movie again. However, this is really an action film, but more of a character piece on three low-life idiots. Some might find this movie fun. I found it tedious, annoying, and stupid. In doing a character piece, especially a narrative, I'd imagine you have to have at least one redeemable character in your movie. One that is on screen for more than 5 minutes. I don't think Bay wanted to offend anyone involved in the real case here, but more that he wanted to just show us the series of events through the killer's eyes, who are on death row as you read this. Surprising enough for a Bay film, there is not one car chase, and only one tiny car explosion. But there are plenty of other moments that will leave you covering your eyes or looking the other way. And don't fret, Bay's signature camera swoops and pans are in there plenty of times as well as his quick editing style. I bet you can't count to 6 before a camera cuts in any of his movies. It's no different here.Wahlberg and Mackie do great jobs here as amped up roided out bodybuilders who are clueless in life. The Rock is the true star of the show here as he struggles with a life of crime and a life of good. He just lights up the screen every time he is on it. They are surrounded by a strange comedic cast with Rob Corddry, Rebel Wilson, and Ken Jeong. And this might just be Tony Shaloub's best performance as he plays Lugo's first victim. Look out for Ed Harris here as well, as he turns in a short, but solid performance as well.At one point during the film, you'll see The Rock BBQ'ing something and you'll think "This is completely insane, this didn't happen." That's when the picture freezes and a title comes up on the screen and says "This is still a true story." It's that kind of movie that I think could have been better executed with a different director. Instead, we get a brutal and unlikable film that once it ends, we feel like we gained nothing and were caused a lot of pain.