Paramount Pictures, De Line Pictures,
Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Ed Harris, Ken Jeong, Anthony Mackie, Rob Corddry, Tony Shalhoub
Based on the true story of Miami body builder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) who felt like he was tired of just trying to get by. He looked at all the good stuff everybody else seemed to have and figured it was a good idea for him to get a piece of it. So he enlisted the help of two of his fellow body builders Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) to pull off a kidnapping and extortion plan. Of course, nothing goes right for this bunch of inept guys, and everything that could go wrong does. But one thing you have to give these guys credit for is they’re persistent! The most amazing thing about this hilarious adventure is that it really happened. The statement about truth being stranger than fiction surely applies to this story.
This is a really funny story. I’m not a big fan of Markie Mark, but he really did a good job in this film. This film has a bit of a Monty Python feel to it, although if it was fiction I would probably be complaining that it was too unbelievable. These guys make the Marx Brothers look sane. This is a very funny story, after all. But The Rock is the big surprise in this film. This was something he could sink his teeth into, and here he is, an ex-con, now a Christian, and finally sober, and the other guys pull him into everything that is against what he’s trying to be. His loyalty is tested, and he has some troubling choices to make, but that just adds to the comedy. I think the secret to this movie is director Michael Bay. This is a bit of an unusual film for him, I think he must have enjoyed having this tiny budget, and such a dark story that is so damn funny, to play with, and seeing what he could do with it. Essentially, what he did was bring his style of directing to this comedy and turned it into an “action/comedy” where there is a lot of stuff going on in a really funny way. All in all, it was a funny movie, though these guys did some really sleazy things. It appears they are basically good guys, that got sucked up in this caper simply for a lack of good sense. If you like dark crime comedies, this is a good one, and well worth the time!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
