In the family of movies observing and exploring the American Dream and excess and money and power, you could see The Wolf of Wall Street and Pain & Gain as this: the two brothers, one wearing a suit and making lots of money (no matter how illegal that might be), the other being a little brother pumped up on steroids, jealous of his big brother's wealthy life, so goes on to find a way to make money, fast. Add to that, The Wolf of Wall Street is made by "greatest American director ever" Martin Scorsese, and Pain & Gain is made by "butt of every American director joke" Michael Bay. They seem like they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. And while The Wolf of Wall Street is infinitely better than Pain & Gain, there's nothing that really causes me to write off Pain & Gain.
Just to preface this post: each of these films deal with the American Dream. Each of these films have been mistaken for glorifying it. Which of course, you can't ignore when big name stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Dwayne Johnson are in these movies living the rich life. But I'd be hard pressed to find another film in 2013 - save for Gravity and Captain Phillips - which left me with a sick stomach.
