I am not a Michael Bay fan. That being said, I go into most of his movies with very low expectations and am sometimes pleasantly surprised. Though The Rock‘s track record as a Hollywood actor is not dissimilar to Bay’s directorial achievements (both are responsible for large box office draws thanks to a certain charisma, despite the fact that most of their films are amusingly terrible), somehow the idea of seeing the former WWE Champion star alongside Mark Wahlberg as two Miami bodybuilders has a certain appeal to it.

I was surprised to find that Pain & Gain is based on a true story, which has created a bit of controversy due to the fact that the death and dismemberment of real people in the ’90s is turned into a comical crime caper fueled by cocaine, partying and other excesses. While those close to the victims have every right to be offended by Pain & Gain (and not for the reasons that make most of Bay’s movies offensive), that doesn’t make the movie any less entertaining for the rest of us. In fact, from a completely objective point of view, Pain & Gain could be Bay’s best movie yet, with the right balance of absurdist comedy, visual flair and the T&A (and hard-bodied male leads) that have come to define Bay’s films.

One of the biggest reasons Pain & Gain seems to make an extra effort to be more than just another Michael Bay movie is the acting muscle being flexed. The Rock and Wahlberg are joined by Anthony Mackie, who has become one of Hollywood’s best supporting actors with recent roles in The Adjustment Bureau, Real Steel, Man on a Ledge and Gangster Squad. And with Ed Harris playing the detective that’s onto their hustle, and Tony Shalhoub as the rich businessman that becomes the target of their extortion tactics, it would have been hard to screw this one up. I don’t even recall very many explosions in Pain & Gain, which must mean Bay took this film pretty seriously.

In place of explosions, however, is a moderate dose of blood and gore. But even the exaggerated blood spatter comes across more as slapstick than Dexter-like gruesomeness. Pain & Gain‘s strongest point is probably the dialogue (something Bay, The Rock and Wahlberg are all good at), with almost every line being delivered as if it’s the most important one-liner in the film. Sure, it’s all a bit excessive and ridiculous. But it is a Michael Bay movie (starring The Rock) after all, so that is to be expected. But without complicated stories about alien robots fighting for control of the planet or an asteroid on a collision course with the planet (ie, things that go “boom!”), Bay manages to focus on his other flashy extravagances, which makes for a film that’s entertaining without being completely contemptible.

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