Pain & Gain (2013)

A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

Christopher Markus (screenplay), Stephen McFeely (screenplay),

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Daniel Lugo
Dwayne Johnson	...	Paul Doyle
Anthony Mackie	...	Adrian Doorbal
Tony Shalhoub	...	Victor Kershaw
Ed Harris	...	Ed DuBois
Rob Corddry	...	John Mese
Bar Paly	...	Sorina Luminita
Rebel Wilson	...	Robin Peck
Ken Jeong	...	Johnny Wu
Michael Rispoli	...	Frank Griga
Keili Lefkovitz	...	Krisztina Furton
Emily Rutherfurd	...	Carolyn 'Cissy' DuBois
Larry Hankin	...	Pastor Randy
Tony Plana	...	Captain Lopez
Peter Stormare	...	Dr. Bjornson

Storyline

A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.

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Plot Keywords:

bodybuilder | miami florida | rhyme in title | ampersand in title | punctuation in title | 

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Taglines:

Their American Dream Is Bigger Than Yours

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence, crude sexual content, nudity, language throughout and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 April 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dolor y dinero

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$20,244,505 (USA) (26 April 2013)

Gross:

$21,947,580 (USA) (29 April 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, De Line Pictures, Platinum Dunes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mark Wahlberg said that his sons loved the enormous, muscular, body-builder physique that he was sporting during filming of this film but his daughters hated it.

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Goofs

When The Rock is drinking iced tea at the church, the lime falls out of the glass and onto the ground as the glass is handed to him, but is back in the glass for the following scenes.

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Quotes

[from trailer]
Daniel Lugo: My name is Daniel Lugo, and I believe in fitness. All this began because it was time to push myself harder, otherwise I was looking at another forty years wearing sweatpants to work...

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Connections

References The Godfather (1972)
Daniel lists it as one of the movies he likes due to self-made characters in it, specifically invoking Michael Corleone and the gun behind the toilet

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Soundtracks

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
By C+C Music Factory

User Reviews

Pumped Up and Hugely Entertaining

Finally! After that dreadful Transformers franchise, the Michael Bay who brought us those Bad Boys movies is back! PAIN & GAIN is pumped-up and hugely entertaining. Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie bring the old saying, in way over your head, to whole new level of hilarious. Their performances are like The Three Stooges with biceps. A crime comedy doesn't get better than this..

PAIN & GAIN is your textbook Michael Bay, there are beautiful girls, fast cars, that 360-degree spinning shot where the camera circles the actors, plus it's back in Miami too, the land of all kinds of colors and sunshine! Yup! PAIN & GAIN looks, feels, breaths, and benches like a Michael Bay movie, alright! Minus the giant robots, and that's a good thing in this case. I have to give props to the true story that became the basis for this movie, just the idea of three knucklehead bodybuilders chasing American dream and the mishaps that happen along the way because of their stupidity, it's practically a formula for a laugh riot, it practically begged to be made into a movie. Plus it's scripted by the screen writing team who brought us Captain America: The First Avenger, the humor that banks on the cluelessness of the three leads just keeps on coming and hitting the mark. What a great cast, including the great Tony Shalhoub and the rising star/funnywoman, Rebel Wilson who steals every scene she's in. That big girl is going to go places.

Mark Wahlberg leads the pack, but this ain't The Hangover, because all the three lead characters in PAIN & GAIN are idiots, that's the attraction, they think they have it all figured out, but they never think things through, so when things go haywire, they're forced to improvise and when they do improvise, people get hurt and even after that, they still mess up in trying to cover their tracks, it's the idea of stupid people trying to get a shortcut to fortune, some people can't handle such fortune, they mismanage it and they're left hungry again. The film probably would make the late great Tony Scott proud too, because it moves like an A-D-D person, one scene moves to the next very quickly, which also speaks about how rash the three leads are in making their moves. Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, and Anthony Mackie have impressive comedic timing, you should see them panicking or cornered, their performances get even more intense. I hit the gym but I don't even come close to what Wahlberg, Mackie, and Johnson do regularly, perhaps. Their biceps have biceps, that's how ridiculously massive they look on the big screen, their belief in fitness is going to make you feel quite insignificant. PAIN & GAIN may have some commentary about American Dream, on whether or not those who do achieve it actually earned it, but in the end, it's just a laugh out loud cautionary tale told through the style of Michael Bay.

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