Synopsis
Daniel Lugo, manager of the Sun Gym in 1990s Miami, decides that there is only one way to achieve his version of the American dream: extortion. To achieve his goal, he recruits musclemen Paul and Adrian as accomplices. After several failed attempts, they abduct rich businessman Victor Kershaw and convince him to sign over all his assets to them. But when Kershaw makes it out alive, authorities are reluctant to believe his story.
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Cast
- Mark WahlbergDaniel Lugo
- Dwayne JohnsonPaul Doyle
- Anthony MackieAdrian Doorbal
- Tony ShalhoubVictor Kershaw
- Ed HarrisEd DuBois
- Rob CorddryJohn Mese
- Bar PalySorina Luminita
- Rebel WilsonRamona Eldridge
- Ken JeongJohnny Wu
- Michael RispoliFrank Griga
- 75
Entertainment Weekly
With Pain & Gain, his surprising true-crime comedy, Bay has finally decided to lighten up a bit. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Even though Pain & Gain does indeed mine laughs from some very violent acts, there is nothing in this movie that glamorizes those three meatheads. Kudos to Bay and his screenwriters for making sure we’re laughing at them, not with them. - 63
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
It’s just too much — too much graphic violence, too many plot wrinkles, too much stupidity, too many supporting players to track...For a movie as physically fit as this one wants to be, Pain & Gain is carrying way too much extra weight. - 63
Slant Magazine
An outrageous based-on-real-life tale that's perfectly suited to director Michael Bay's insanely overblown stylistic and thematic temperament. - 50
Variety
Bay can be a master of exuberant chaos, but here the violence mostly lands with a sickening thud, which is fitting, one supposes, but also ultimately numbing. - 42
Tampa Bay Times
The movie's best performance — and worst defamation — belongs to Tony Shalhoub, playing the first victim as a conniving, egotistical jerk who deserves to be kidnapped, maimed and ruined financially. - 40
Village Voice
When the story runs off the rails and crashes headfirst into a too-perfect ending, it's because Bay was led astray by the same things that got the Sun Gym Gang into this mess in the first place: superficiality, ambition, and the belief that reality just isn't good enough. - 33
The Playlist
Pain & Gain fails at being an entertaining and ridiculously fun Michael Bay movie and curdles into something much more tone deaf and obnoxious.