Pain & Gain
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, Rebel Wilson, Anthony Mackie
Pain & Gain is based on a true story about a group of bodybuilders who were known as Miami’s Sun Gym gang. And a gang they were, in every sense of the word. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more ruthless band of white-collar criminals (well, not all of them were fraudsters, some were garden-variety thugs engaged mostly in crimes of opportunity). Unfortunately for their victims, this crew’s crimes also included torture and murder. The wonder of it all is how this bumbling group of stud muffins weren’t caught sooner, since there was scant evidence that they could walk and chew gum simultaneously, let alone carry out complicated extortion schemes. Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie are in fine, and we do mean fine form as the musclemen aiming to live the good life through less than legal means. You can’t make this stuff up. –p.d. lee