I have knowledge I'm not quite sure what to do with. For example : never doubt a film suggestion by Jedidiah Ayres. The St-Louis based author runs the blog Hardboiled Wonderland where he gives movie suggestions every month and not all of them are good, they are actually great. So should I watch them all? Should I hire a hitman to gun down Ayres for having better tastes in movies that I have? I would've never EVER sat through PAIN and GAIN if he hadn't vouched for it. That would have been a terrible mistake (that I'm sure most people are still doing) because this dopey-looking, airbrushed, Michael Bay directed movie looks like anything but the quirky, Coen-y, hilarious true crime thrill ride that it is. I mean, who would've thought The Rock would ever play in something interesting?
PAIN and GAIN is based on the true story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and the Sun Gym gang. Lugo always dreamed of transcending his social status, but despite finding considerable success as a private trainer, that's what he seemed destined to be doing all his life. After attending a shady life-altering entrepreneurship seminar (lead by resident-awesome Ken Jeong), Daniel Lugo has a vision of his future : he is going to kidnap his richest client and rob him blind of everything he owns. Lugo enlists his loyal sidekick Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and Paul Doyle (The Rock) to help him achieve success. There is testosterone, steroid, cocaine and titties involved, but not a solid plan. That part, Lugo didn't think was necessary. Because he's a doer, y'know? Doers do, they don't plan ground for comedy and drama both.
Fuck, I don't know how it came about. A film like PAIN and GAIN seemed so unlikely out of the Coen brothers' hands. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely don't exaclty have a standout wrap sheet (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and THOR: THE DARK WORLD) yet they seemed to have found themselves in humour. They transformed a horrifying story that had nothing funny into an uproarious quest for empty success in the shallowest place in America south of Las Vegas and Santa Monica. A sneaky powerful screenplay is what keeps PAIN and GAIN interesting from cover to cover.
Fuck, I don't know how it came about. A film like PAIN and GAIN seemed so unlikely out of the Coen brothers' hands. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely don't exaclty have a standout wrap sheet (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and THOR: THE DARK WORLD) yet they seemed to have found themselves in humour. They transformed a horrifying story that had nothing funny into an uproarious quest for empty success in the shallowest place in America south of Las Vegas and Santa Monica. A sneaky powerful screenplay is what keeps PAIN and GAIN interesting from cover to cover.
''My name is Daniel Lugo and I believe in fitness.''
Remember the last time Michael Bay was relevant? It was almost twentty years ago, upon the release of his now Criterion Collection-bound film THE ROCK. Bay is one of these guys who gained too much power for his own good over the years. He cannot be involved in the screenwriting process of a movie to any degree. The movie's success depends on it. But if Michael Bay focuses on what he's good at, he has a way with timing and creating a visual atmosphere that few other directors have. When he stays within himself, he is the most talented blockbuster director working today. But since Hollywood is the land of ego, I wouldn't bank on it everytime Bay sits behind the camera. It's quite the achievement to have made the Sun Gym gang story colourful and humourous the way Michael Bay, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely did. Some would call it a tasteless money grab, I call it an interesting new way of looking at tragedy. What is humour for, if not to sublime what is impossible to understand otherwise?
America is the land of opportunity, but bearing such a title is bound to attact a lot of dumb and dangerous people. PAIN and GAIN has the strange existential edge that also characterizes the Coen brothers legacy. It's a comedy that outlines the sad state of a theoretical promise made to everybody who assumed it was made to them. It's not a ripoff though as it bears the mark of Michael Bay movies more than anything else. It's just a movie that acknowledge the wisdom of Joel and Ethan Coen's screenwriting touch. PAIN and GAIN will sneak up on you and make you smile. It's a movie that isn't all deliberate. It transcends what it was meant to be and takes its small place in history as a American Dream fiction that had the courage to not wall itself in idealism. PAIN and GAIN is not a memorable piece of art by any means, but it's a well-written, theoretically polarizing piece of pop-corn entertainment. It's not common that pop-corn flicks have a mind of their own.
America is the land of opportunity, but bearing such a title is bound to attact a lot of dumb and dangerous people. PAIN and GAIN has the strange existential edge that also characterizes the Coen brothers legacy. It's a comedy that outlines the sad state of a theoretical promise made to everybody who assumed it was made to them. It's not a ripoff though as it bears the mark of Michael Bay movies more than anything else. It's just a movie that acknowledge the wisdom of Joel and Ethan Coen's screenwriting touch. PAIN and GAIN will sneak up on you and make you smile. It's a movie that isn't all deliberate. It transcends what it was meant to be and takes its small place in history as a American Dream fiction that had the courage to not wall itself in idealism. PAIN and GAIN is not a memorable piece of art by any means, but it's a well-written, theoretically polarizing piece of pop-corn entertainment. It's not common that pop-corn flicks have a mind of their own.