April 28, 2013


I didn’t know what to expect when heading to see Pain & Gain, but I was pleasantly surprised. Though the film was a little over two hours, I was eager to see how this based-on-a-true-story movie ended. It really could have went several ways, but I guess because it was a true story, it ended just how it should have.



Danny Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is an ex-con body builder who works at Sun Gym in Miami in 1994 as a personal trainer. He and his friend Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) are sick of living the poor life, paycheck to paycheck, trying to make rent. Lugo concocts a plan to kidnap and extort money from a rich businessman, a former client of his, Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub). Though Doorbal is hesitant at first, when he finds out that steroids he has been on are affecting his performance in the bedroom and it is going to cost a pretty penny for the anecdote, he joins Lugo. They also recruit another former ex-con Paul Doyle (Dwanye Johnson) and successfully kidnap Kershaw and take all of his finances, cars and house.



However, the gang tries to murder Kershaw to get him out of the picture, but he survives. When the police don’t believe Kershaw’s story, he recruits a private investigator, Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris), to catch the trio and get his money back.



Meanwhile, Lugo is living a quaint little life in Kershaw’s mansion, trying to blend in with the neighborhood, Doorbal is making a life for him and his new wife and Doyle is sliding down a slippery slope of drugs and strippers again. And just when they start to think they are in the clear, Doyle runs out of money and wants to kidnap another rich guy to get more funds. And that’s when it all goes downhill, throwing the men into a world of not only kidnapping and extortion, but also torture and murder.



And since it’s a true story, we find out that Lugo and Doorbal are now sitting on death row, while Doyle struck a deal and only served a few years.



After reading a little more into this story, I found there are a lot of key players in their scheme and Lugo has a huge background of con games before he gets into extortion. It was very interesting to see these men spiral out of control just to make a quick buck. Wahlberg did a pretty good job of playing a juiced up body builder, while Johnson stepped outside of his normal tough guy roles and tested out his acting chops as a coked-up, Jesus lover, just trying to make a better life for himself.

The film also stars Rob Corddry as John Mese the Sun Gym owner who hires Lugo despite his past indiscretions because he promises to turn the gym around and turn a huge profit (which he does), and Rebel Wilson as the nurse in a doctor’s office who wins Doorbal’s heart. And the always funny Ken Jeong makes an appearance as business motivator and Lugo’s ‘mentor’ Johnny Wu.



As I said, it runs a little long, but still holds your interest to find out how all their scheming plays out. It is hard to believe that it is a true story, which is why, half way through the film, Wahlberg’s narration reiterates that, yes, this is in fact still a true story.