'PAIN & GAIN'

'PAIN & GAIN' (R) (3 STARS)

Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley
Directed by Michale Bay
Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Dwyane Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Ken Jeong, Bar Paly, Rob Corddry.

For my movie going money I just want something full of energy and it doesn't have to be the best movie around. I have been begging for something a little different and out there amid the sea of mediocrity of movies in 2013. "Pain & Gain" is nasty, messy, warped and dumb and it is not going to win any awards, some people will hate it. I didn't like the first half hour of this vulgar, based on actual events, mess of a movie but when it settles in it becomes a wonderful punch to the gut crime story. If you did not know this was based on an actual murder and kiddnap case, you would think the writers here were on cocaine like Dwayne Johnson's character is during the movie's best running joke. "Pain & Gain" has some great black comedy, satire, vicious violence and some great acting, I fell in deep like with it an hour in.

"Pain & Gain" is also directed by the high octane, big budget impressario Michael Bay and I am not a big fan. Here he has a lower budget and maybe he should make low budget movies more often, they are better usually. Bay is too hyper, full of himself and not the most controlled director. That works to his advantage here because we hate all the lead characters here (I actually liked Johnson's character) and Bay needs an over the top approach here. His style works here because the story here is crazy and hard to take it all in so he can have a license to go with his hyper, ADD style. The movie is brilliant and really settles down in the second hour and that is where I started to realize that the screenplay here is really good.

Mark Wahlberg is again hilarious here giving us proof again that he is under rated at comedy playing Daniel Lugo. Lugo is a fitness freak and bodybuilder who feels that his life is going nowhere. He trains another man Adrian, played very well by Anthony Mackie, who feels the same way. They go to a hilarious self help seminar given by "Hangover I and II's" Ken Jeong and are told to basically go for the American Dream. They recruit a born again Christian ex con, Paul, played by Jonhnson to join them in kidnapping a sleazy and arrogant jerk, a fast food magnate, Victor Kershaw, played by Tony Shalhoub (Monk). I love how Danny Lugo is so stupid as a human being that he is the only one who thinks he is smart thus assuming his two pals think he is smart also. Wahlberg is hilarious here and is so great at playing dumb, it is one of my favorite performances of the year.

The plot here is off the wall as they try to kill Kershaw and then move on to another jerk, business mogul. There is the usual violence, action and warped sense of humor that Bay uses like he did in the much inferior "Bad Boys" movies. Though I liked his film making here because it fits the wild story here and thus we begin to like following this crazy, unbelievable story. This may be too loud and very dumb at times but it has a certain energy and blackness that I like and it is one of my favorite crime movies I have seen in quite a long time because of it's uniqueness and freshness.

I also really love the performances here besides Wahlberg and it starts with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's best role and performance to date. His character may do reprehensible things but he has a good heart and Johnson is charming here. Paul falls back into drugs because of this crazy kidnapping and robbery but he has a heart underneath the drug troubles and violent tendencies. Tony Shalhoub is great and hilarious here as the despicable Victor Kershaw and he actually makes us feel sorry for his charcater while supplying major laughs. The movie does start off sloppy but half way in something amazing happens. The great Ed Harris comes in as a private detective, ex cop and being a huge Harris fan a big smile came to my face. Harris brings a little sanity to the movie and after he becomes a big part of the story I was toally sucked in by the movie. "Pain & Gain" is a huge surprise, it kind of sneaks up on you. I had a lot of fun with it.