45
Metascore
42 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyWith Pain & Gain, his surprising true-crime comedy, Bay has finally decided to lighten up a bit.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperEven though Pain & Gain does indeed mine laughs from some very violent acts, there is nothing in this movie that glamorizes those three meatheads. Kudos to Bay and his screenwriters for making sure we’re laughing at them, not with them.
- 63McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreIt’s just too much — too much graphic violence, too many plot wrinkles, too much stupidity, too many supporting players to track...For a movie as physically fit as this one wants to be, Pain & Gain is carrying way too much extra weight.
- 63Slant MagazineNick SchagerSlant MagazineNick SchagerAn outrageous based-on-real-life tale that's perfectly suited to director Michael Bay's insanely overblown stylistic and thematic temperament.
- 50VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasBay can be a master of exuberant chaos, but here the violence mostly lands with a sickening thud, which is fitting, one supposes, but also ultimately numbing.
- 42Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallTampa Bay TimesSteve PersallThe movie's best performance — and worst defamation — belongs to Tony Shalhoub, playing the first victim as a conniving, egotistical jerk who deserves to be kidnapped, maimed and ruined financially.
- 40Village VoiceCiara LaVelleVillage VoiceCiara LaVelleWhen the story runs off the rails and crashes headfirst into a too-perfect ending, it's because Bay was led astray by the same things that got the Sun Gym Gang into this mess in the first place: superficiality, ambition, and the belief that reality just isn't good enough.
- 33The PlaylistRodrigo PerezThe PlaylistRodrigo PerezPain & Gain fails at being an entertaining and ridiculously fun Michael Bay movie and curdles into something much more tone deaf and obnoxious.
- 25The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinAny pretensions of satire, moral ambiguity, or social commentary get lost in a hurricane of empty, mindless spectacle.
- 20The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe story is told in a hammer-on-anvil manner that evinces no gift for social satire or sharp cultural insight.