by Brian Hughes ’15

Director Michael Bay’s dark crime comedy “Pain and Gain” is one of the most obscene, interesting and hilarious movies I have seen in a while. Bay takes the realism and cinematic aspects and blends them together well enough to make it worth watching. The thing I find most interesting is that, yes, the story the film is about is true actually happened.  A couple of bodybuilders did kidnap a millionaire and torture him into signing away all of his assets to them.

For being a comedy, the movie gets a little disturbing at times. At one point, one of the gym goons, Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), is grilling the hands of two dead victims, just out in the open, like a barbeque. And yes, this part is confirmed as something that actually took place. Not every unsettling thing in the film is true, however, and is just there for a laugh—if you have a widespread sense of humor, that is. After the lead bodybuilder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and his crew get ahold of their targeted successful businessman (Tony Shalhoub), they keep him imprisoned in an abandoned warehouse full of explicit sex toys everywhere and even decide to beat him with a few of them. So true or untrue, some areas of the film are just unpleasant.

However, with a well-known cast that actually earns the millions of dollars they make, unlike most other actors, the group of people Bay assembled delivers practically flawless roles. Aside from Wahlberg with 85-90 percent of the screen time, Johnson is very amusing as his innocent, dynamic, Jesus-following character, being the giant he is. Supporting roles from the great Ed Harris, as retired private investigator Ed DuBois, and Anthony Mackie, as steroid addict Adrian Doorbal, also do the film a service, only enhancing both the comical portions and the dramatic intensity of it.

Oh yeah, and with all the strippers and porn references throughout the movie, you might want to rethink going with your parents in order to see an “R” rated movie. Take an older sibling or someone else.

“Pain and Gain” is not meant to inspire you or to make you want to do well for the world. It just shares the true story about a couple of imbeciles who have an absurd idea and fail to execute it thoroughly.