BACK TO MIAMI

My major issue with Michael Bay films beyond The Rock is the director's obsession with comedic incompetence. Perhaps aware that his script sinew is deathly dull, Bay constructs films out of obscure, vulgar asides that reek of a harassed, impatient improv. There's an idea that Bay traps his actors in dreary scenes and forces them to act larger and larger in pursuit of maximum profanity. It's black comedy without the safety net of understanding; odiousness served up at face value.

So why can't I wait for Pain & Gain? Well, at least this time the nasty looks planned. Once you step away from heroic narratives and explicitly move into comedy, or tragedy, it begins to matter less that the main characters are moral paradigms. In the Transformers films it's important that Sam Witwicky is an insufferable little prick, his success is diluted by it. Frankly, Id' prefer it if he didn't win - I'd much rather see Megatron smear him across a fucking building, because that's a character I'm invested in and like. So what if the Decepticon leader is trying to crush humanity beneath his heel? At least he's put the work in. Anyway, I digress. Marky Mark is quite obvious playing another oblivious, Bayian twat, but the film is apparently constructed so that it's a given that he's a buffoon. Fine. Horrible morons doing dumb shit and getting punished / succeeding works as long as we're given some wriggle room to arrive at the idea of liking them, something Shia LeBeouf's awful, choking performances never allowed.