History Film / PainAndGain

* AntiVillain: Paul Doyle. He didn't want to be part of the kidnapping at all but was persuaded by Daniel and Adrian into doing so and felt guilty the entire time.

* DirtyOldMonk: Pastor Randy gets violently attacked by Paul after he comes on to him, thus leading Paul on the path toward Daniel and the Sun Gym Gang.

* CompensatingForSomething: Adrian, who gets involved to pay for ways to make his penis work again.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Zig-zagged with Robin Peck with Adrien Doorbal's real-life girlfriend Cindy Eldridge. She helped Doorbal get rid of the evidence Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton's deaths by scrubbing blood off the floors and was charged as an accessory after the fact. However, she apparently did not know where the blood came from and claims that Doorbal married her to keep her from testifying against him. In the movie, Robin Peck knew nothing of Doorbal's murders either but she did see blood stains left on the floors and the evidence Doorbal threw away into the garbage which she kept quiet about. [[DirtyCoward She testifies against Doorbal even divorcing him before her testimony to acquit herself from neglecting to report what she saw.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Zig-zagged with Robin Peck with Adrien Doorbal's real-life girlfriend Cindy Eldridge. She helped Doorbal get rid of the evidence Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton's deaths by scrubbing blood off the floors and was charged as an accessory after the fact. However, she claims did not know where the blood came from and that Doorbal married her to keep her from testifying against him. In the movie, Robin Peck knew nothing of Doorbal's murders either but she did see blood stains left on the floors and the evidence Doorbal threw away into the garbage which she kept quiet about. [[DirtyCoward She testifies against Doorbal even divorcing him before her testimony to acquit herself from neglecting to report what she saw.]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness:
** The end credits gives a WhereAreTheyNow overview with pictures of the actual people involved, both Lugo and Doorbal are significantly more average looking than Wahlberg and Mackie. Although Sorina (whose name was changed from the real life counterpart) looks remarkably similar.
** The Sun Gym itself is given an upgrade; the photo in the end credits definitely does not look like the sparkling white building in the film.
** Carl Weekes and Stevenson Pierre were considered too scrawny at first to hang with Lugo and Doorbal. Their fictional counterpart Paul Doyle is played by Dwayne Johnson who bulked up more than usual, and weighs about as much as them combined.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** While Marc Schiller was officially a criminal who served 46 months in prison for Medicare fraud and the real life Daniel Lugo complained that Schiller stole from him first (the kidnapping was partly retribution on Schiller), Victor Kershaw is at worst a fat-shaming bully who boasts of his wealth.
** Adrien Doorbal's real-life girlfriend Cindy Eldridge assisted helping Doorbal in covering up evidence of killing Frank Griga and his wife by scrubbing blood off the floors and Judge Ferrer found Eldridge guilty. In the movie, Robin Peck knew nothing of Doorbal's murders (though she did see blood stains left on the floors and the evidence Doorbal threw away into the garbage, but she kept quiet about it) and testified against Doorbal even divorcing him before her testimony [[DirtyCoward to acquit herself from neglecting to report what she saw]].
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Adrien Doorbal. In real life he was described as being aggressive and violent and he was the one who killed Frank Griga. In the movie, he's relaxed and even-tempered and treated his girlfriend then wife Robin with warm respect, when in real life he beat his girlfriend.
** Daniel Lugo as well. He does have his own {{Jerkass}} moments but when he inherits the sandwich shop from Kershaw, the employees take a liking to Lugo for his "I'm a doer" motivations.
* AdaptationalUgliness: Robin Peck, who is obese while her real life counterpart Cindy Eldridge was slim.

** A minor subplot shows Ed Du Bois relationship with his wife and we last see them enjoying the sunset on their back porch, which adds meaning when he talks about enjoying the small things in life in contrast to what the Sun Gym Gang had done for easy money.

* HeroAntagonist: Ed [=DuBois=], one of the only characters in the movie that can be considered heroic, who is trying to solve the case of the Sun Gym Gang.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: While the gang itself is correctly portrayed as a bunch of vicious morons, individually speaking, Adrian was much more of a [[AxCrazy unstable lunatic]] in real life.

* DeconstructiveParody: Of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. The film even has most of the visual excess (shot like some of the cheesier music videos of the day) during scenes where Daniel discusses what he thinks the dream is.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Griga is chosen for kidnapping after ''one'' bad interaction with Paul at the strip club ''months'' ago.

* GoodIsNotNice: As he is arguably among the "good guys" in a film whose protagonists are the bad guys, Victor Kershaw is established from the start as an arrogant bully. Later on, as Du Bois assists him with his case, he is extremely rude and uncooperative despite the fact that Du Bois is the only one who is taking his case seriously.

** Carl Weekes and Stevenson Pierre were considered too scrawny at first to hang with Lugo and Doorbal. Their fictional counterpart Paul Doyle is played by Dwayne Johnson who bulked up more then usual, and weighs about as much as them combined.

** Paul, whose KO'ing of a priest who hit on him helped drive him into Lugo's influence, is rather disturbed (yet fascinated) that the warehouse they got to hold Victor is filled with sex toys, including a wall of giant dildos.

* ApatheticCitizens: The citizens of Miami apparently aren't fazed by the Sun Gym gang's antics: No one, not even Victor, thinks the crew's second kidnapping attempt with costumes and a giant van is worth a second glance; none of the people walking around Danny seems to notice him violently beating a suitcase to death after his first attempt to use Victor's "contracts" fails; the clerk at Home Depot isn't terribly bothered by the "fur" [[spoiler: Griga's girlfriend's hair (and blood)]] clogging up the chainsaw Lugo and Doorbal try to return.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Adrien Doorbal. In real life he was described as being aggressive and violent and he was the one who killed Frank Griga. In the movie, he's relaxed and even-tempered so that only Daniel Lugo seems dangerous.

* FiveStagesOfGrief: After being forced to tell his wife and son to evacuate to Columbia, Kershaw starts crying in anguish. Paul asks for Lugo on what to do to make him stop, and Lugo responds to just wait for him to stop.

* ShockinglyExpensiveBill: Paul and Sorina's bill for their hotel room is $47,000 and that's not even getting into Paul's cocaine habit and Sorina's shopping.

** Carl Weekes and Stevenson Pierre were considered too scrawny at first to hang with Lugo and Doorbal. There fictional counterpart Paul Doyle is played by Dwayne Johnson who bulked up more then usual, and weighs about as much combined as them.

* TheDitz: Sorina, who easily buys Daniel's story about him and the others being CIA agents [[spoiler:and even seems to still believe it when testifying at their trial]].

* AccidentalMisnaming: Victor keeps calling Danny things like "Denny Lupo" while working out at the Sun Gym.

** Averted with Robin Peck, who is obese as while Cindy Eldridge (who's she is based on) was slim.
** Dwayne Johnson's Paul Doyle weighs about as much combined as two of the men he was largely based on – Carl Weekes and Stevenson Pierre, who weighed about 135-140 pounds and were considered too scrawny at first to hang with Lugo and Doorbal.
* AdaptationalHeroism: While Marc Schiller was officially a criminal who served 46 months in prison for Medicare fraud and the real life Daniel Lugo complained that Schiller stole from ''him'' first (the kidnapping was partly retribution on Schiller), Victor Kershaw is at worst a fat-shaming bully who boasts of his wealth.

* IAmNotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: Shows up [[RuleOfThree three times]]: "Unfortunately, this is a true story" in the opening narration, a "this is still a true story" subtitle when [[spoiler: Paul is barbequing the second victims' hands]], and "sometimes truth is stranger than fiction" in the closing narration.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:The film ends with the credits showing the main cast with a picture of the real person they were portraying. Two of the kidnappers were sentenced to death while the third served 15 years in prison. The gym owner who forged the transaction papers for them got 15 years as well, while the survivors' names were changed.]]

''Pain & Gain'' is a dark comedy based on a series of 1999 ''Miami New Times'' articles by Pete Collins about "a couple of Florida steroid-abusing knucklehead bodybuilders who become criminals involved in an extortion ring and a kidnapping plot that goes horribly awry." It stars Creator/MarkWahlberg as Daniel Lugo, Creator/DwayneJohnson as Paul Doyle, and Creator/AnthonyMackie as Adrian Doorbal, and is directed by Creator/MichaelBay.

** Adrien Doorbal's real-life girlfriend Cindy Eldridge assisted helping Doorbal in covering up evidence of killing Frank Griga and his wife by scrubbing blood off the floors and Judge Ferrer found Eldridge guilty. In the movie, Robin Peck knew nothing of Doorbal's murders and testified against Doorbal even divorcing him before her testimony [[DirtyCoward to acquit herself from failure to report the blood stains she saw]].

** Adrien Doorbal's real-life girlfriend Cindy Eldridge assisted helping Doorbal in covering up evidence of killing Frank Griga and his wife by scrubbing blood off the floors and Judge Ferrer found Eldridge guilty. In the movie, Robin Peck knew nothing of Doorbal's murders and condemned Doorbal.