Pain & Gain

Inspired by self-help guru Johnny Wu (Ken Jeong), Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg)—a personal trainer at Miami Lakes' Sun Gym—is determined to carve himself a chunk of the American Dream…even if he has to steal it. When multimillionaire Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) becomes a new client, Lugo decides to kidnap the man and usurp all of his South Beach business interests. Lugo recruits two misguided accomplices: Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie), a bodybuilding co-worker suffering from impotence caused by steroids, and Attica ex-con Paul Doyle (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a devout, born-again Christian with cocaine-abuse issues. But after the ambitious muscle-bound trio abduct and torture Kershaw over a period of 30 days—forcing him to sign over his assets, including cars, a deli franchise, and a huge McMansion in an exclusive community—the combative Kershaw hires retired cop/private detective Ed DuBois (Ed Harris), to track the perpetrators down and also try to convince the incompetent Dade County police that a heinous crime has actually been committed. Based on Pete Collins' 1999 Miami New Times articles about the Sun Gym gang, director Michael Bay re-interprets this true crime story as a quirky, chaotic, dunderhead comedy caper loaded with viciously graphic violence and rampant misogynism. Entertainment-wise, this is more pain than gain. Optional. (S. Granger)