Pain & Gain plays as a glossy Hollywood teen-boy fantasy, which jars with the fact that it is "unfortunately" based on a true crime story, of which the viewer is regularly reminded. It is recognisably Michael Bay - the walk-away-from-an-explosion shot, the silhouetted-against-a-sunset shot, more low-angle shots than should be legally allowed - but this utterly preposterous caper is told with energy and verve. Anthony Mackie, Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg play it straight and are often hilariously dumb and they are clearly (and infectiously) having a ball, and there is very strong support from Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris and Rob Corddry. At times the script could do with some work, but it is all delivered at such breakneck speed that weaker moments of dialogue soon get left behind, although the multiple narrators' voice-overs are a little intrusive. Steve Jablonsky provides a terrific score, at times very aptly retro-Moroder/Jan Hammer.
Get past the uber-macho and pro-USA posturing that riddles the film, and you are left with a ridiculous and entertaining caper whose real-life basis nevertheless leaves a somewhat guilty feeling.
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