Rating of
2/4
you won’t believe it until you see it
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 04/28/13
Pain and Gain may objectively be the worst movie ever made. Its Ideas are cliché, its style is over the top and almost every frame in it contains something at least offensive if not worse. I for one enjoyed the heck out of it.
I am fascinated by this movie. Director Michael Bay, the man who is responsible for what many, including myself, call some of the worst movies of all time, made this as a personal picture. By that I mean he threatened to drop out of Transformers 4 if the studio would not green light this flick. The fact that this offensive stylized crime drama is his Idea of a legitimate art film is down right boggling.
From all of the interviews I’ve seen, this is Bay’s attempt to make an artistic film with an interesting message, yet he still brings his usual Michael bay-ness to it. There are still ditzy scantily clad women everywhere and there are still people walking away from explosions in slow motion. This is supposed to be his “Fargo,” but he still uses all the exploitation and stereotypes used in his other films, more so than most. This makes me wonder if this is really the way Michael Bay see’s things, as a world full of explosions, boobs and penis humor.
I’ll give the film credit though, it kept me entertained. Not once did I look at my watch during this films extensive running time.
It has a lot of god ideas. The Idea of using body building as a metaphor for the American Dream is actually freaking hilarious, the performances all fit Bay’s bizarre world perfectly and a surprising number of the jokes (especially in the first half) hit.
Unfortunately the movie suffers from a lack of subtlety. There seem to be American Flags on every wall (get it? The American Dream!) And this whole “flawed American Dream” thing has been done half way to death. Heck, that was what Killing them Softly was all about. This movie bashes you in the head with its message; there is barely any subtlety or wit involved.
I honestly could just go on and on about everything that is wrong with this movie and I can go on for almost as long about what I enjoyed about this movie. I’m conflicted. Even many of the critics who have given this flick positive reviews sort of admit it’s bad, but they like it anyway. I’m sort of like that, I can’t honestly call Pain and Gain a good movie, but I have to recommend it. Love it or hate it, you won’t believe it until you see it.
