Pain & Gain is a pretty good example of the American Dream gone wrong…

Which I guess is exactly what it’s supposed to be. So I’ll give it credit for that.

That’s really all it has though. There’s a decent smattering of violence and nudity, if you’re into that sort of thing, but personally I just found it painful to watch. Halfway through, I was actually considering walking out which, for me, is really saying something.

Basically, it’s a kidnapping gone wrong and it proceeds pretty much exactly as you’d expect. Everything starts out innocent enough (or as innocent as a kidnapping can be) and just spirals out of control. And yet the protagonists never really just quite how incompetent they are. Mark Wahlberg¹ is actually pretty believable as Lugo–absolutely convinced that he’s deserving of a better life and is just reaching out to take hold of it. Dwayne Johnson does rather well as an ex-con who found Jesus in the loosest sense of the word.

Really, I think the worst part is that this is all based (loosely!) on a true story. I read up on the details and they’ve changed a fair bit (which reminds me of Argo). It’s always amazing just how terrible human beings can be to one another.

Overall, I have no qualms putting this movie dead last for the year. In 20/20 hindsight, I wish I had gone to see Iron Man 3 again…

Pain & Gain is a pretty good example of the American Dream gone wrong…

Which I guess is exactly what it’s supposed to be. So I’ll give it credit for that.

That’s really all it has though. There’s a decent smattering of violence and nudity, if you’re into that sort of thing, but personally I just found it painful to watch. Halfway through, I was actually considering walking out which, for me, is really saying something.

Basically, it’s a kidnapping gone wrong and it proceeds pretty much exactly as you’d expect. Everything starts out innocent enough (or as innocent as a kidnapping can be) and just spirals out of control. And yet the protagonists never really just quite how incompetent they are. Mark Wahlberg¹ is actually pretty believable as Lugo–absolutely convinced that he’s deserving of a better life and is just reaching out to take hold of it. Dwayne Johnson does rather well as an ex-con who found Jesus in the loosest sense of the word.

Really, I think the worst part is that this is all based (loosely!) on a true story. I read up on the details and they’ve changed a fair bit (which reminds me of Argo). It’s always amazing just how terrible human beings can be to one another.

Overall, I have no qualms putting this movie dead last for the year. In 20/20 hindsight, I wish I had gone to see Iron Man 3 again…