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In what American city does "Pain & Gain" take place?
Boston
Dallas
Los Angeles
Miami
"Pain & Gain" is based on actual events. But it also takes the usual liberties -- streamlining events and creating at least one composite character.
The film's opening and closing line is, "I'm Daniel Lugo, and I believe in ____________."
the American Dream
fitness
If only he'd stopped there! But Lugo isn't content to just be a personal trainer all his life, or even to move up to gym management or ownership. Sigh.
second chances
self betterment
What is the name of the gym where Daniel (Mark Wahlberg) works?
Gaines Gym
Gold's Gym
Rock-Hard Gym
Sun Gym
Daniel is a trainer there, where clients like to ruffle his hair and slap his shoulder. He says that the motivation, in part, for a kidnapping and extortion plot was that "I wanted clients to stop petting me."
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Who played Adrian Doorbal, the first accomplice Daniel recruits?
Dule Hill
Edi Gathegi
Anthony Mackie
Mackie plays against type as an innocent dimwit in the film. His main motivation in joining Lugo's criminal plot is that he needs money for injections to overcome steroid-induced impotence.
Will Smith
Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) is different from the other two in what way?
he is a born-again Christian
This is a bit of a trick question, as Doyle is the one strongly identified as an ex-convict. However, Daniel also served time, in a white-collar prison, for an investment scam. What truly differentiates Doyle is that he's the only one with strong religious feelings.
he served prison time
he is not really into weightlifting
all of these
Who played Victor Kershaw, the rich Sun Gym client?
John Turturro
Daniel Turturro
Stanley Tucci
Tony Shalhoub
Albert Brooks was originally sought to play the role. Then John Turturro got involved, but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts, at which point Shalhoub was cast.
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According to Kershaw, who invented salad?
dateless vegetarians
evil people
fat people
poor people
Kershaw seems to enjoy having a captive audience in his trainer, Daniel. He also cracks wise about the problem with weights: "They're so heavy."
According to Johnny Wu, what are the two kinds of people in the world?
doers and don't-ers
Johnny Wu was reportedly based on Tommy Vu, who did a number of infomercials in the '90s. In the movie, he's played by character actor Ken Jeong.
lovers and fighters
people who understand money and people who don't
those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't
What is Adrian adding to his drink at the strip club?
breast milk
We're hoping this is an exaggeration of the bizarre things bodybuilders ingest to gain muscle. But given their obsession with dietary supplementation, we can't be sure this hasn't happened in real life.
wheatgrass juice
Prozac
soy protein
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All three lead actors packed on muscle for their roles. What was their combined weight?
502 pounds
616 pounds
725 pounds
Wow. Let's all take a moment to reflect on how many Kardashians it would require to make up that total. (Rob doesn't count.)
905 pounds
Who played the nurse, Robin, whom Adrian fell for?
Brittany Snow
Anna Camp
Anna Kendrick
Rebel Wilson
Comedienne Wilson also played "Fat Amy" in "Pitch Perfect." (Bonus points if you knew the other three were her co-stars in that movie.)
What is the crew's code name for Kershaw?
Eagle
Kershaw's expensive house is therefore the "Eagle's Nest." They first go there to kidnap him, but he's having Shabbat with his family, so they abort.
Buddha
"the client"
"the package"
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During their attempt to kidnap Kershaw in a parking lot, what is Adrian dressed as?
a cop
an alien
Aliens -- always depicted as having big black watermelon-seed eyes and incredibly pointed chins -- were huge in the '90s. It'd probably be a lot harder to find that costume nowadays.
a surgeon
a garbage collector
What is Kershaw's nickname?
Bibi
the Hammer
Pepe
Kershaw was born in Colombia, where his grandfather fled to during the Holocaust. This seems to give him a certain amount of grit, as he doesn't easily roll over to the kidnappers' demands.
the Wallet
How does Kershaw recognize Daniel?
from his cologne
Pro tip: If you're ever kidnapped for ransom, don't let on that you recognize your kidnappers. This is, of course, why Daniel decides he has to kill Kershaw rather than let him go.
from his heavy footsteps
from his bad grammar
from his voice
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What magazine does Paul Doyle read while watching Kershaw?
Christian Camping
Paul was difficult to talk into joining the plot. Having served time, he apparently has genuine religious feelings ... until the temptation of money just becomes too strong.
Flex
Motor Trend
Fortune
What kind of dog does the crew steal from Kershaw?
an Irish setter
an Irish wolfhound
a racing greyhound
The dog, named "Tasty Reuben," was an attractive brown-brindle greyhound. After Robin takes to him, he becomes her pet, shared with Adrian.
a tri-colored Chihuahua
When meeting the bank officer, where does Daniel say that Kershaw is?
in Europe, saving elephants
Poor Daniel -- he tries so hard. But if there are any elephants in Europe, the only things they need to be saved from are zoos and circuses.
hospitalized with severe back pain
visiting a dying uncle in Colombia
in Tibet, finding his Zen
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Who played John Mese, Sun Gym's owner?
Jim Belushi
Rob Corddry
Corddry specializes in fast-talking untrustworthy characters. John Mese isn't a bad guy at first, but he gets drawn into the criminal plot because he has something Daniel can't do without. Speaking of which ...
Jason Segel
Seth Meyers
What essential thing does Daniel need from John Mese?
his warehouse space
his money
his notary stamp
Daniel eventually gets Kershaw to sign away his home and assets, but he obviously can't bring the kidnapped man to a bank office for notarization. That's where Mese -- rather conveniently a notary -- comes in.
his corrupt police connection
What do Kershaw and Paul Doyle bond over?
their love of camping
their born-again Christianity
their sobriety
Kershaw isn't Christian, born-again or otherwise. He's Jewish, as the prominent Star of David he wears in an early scene makes clear.
their love of fitness
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What name does Kershaw give Paul?
Adam
Eldad
"Eldad" means "beloved of God" in Hebrew. Kershaw, who by now has faked a conversion to Christianity at Paul's urging, is playing on Paul's religious feelings.
Loco
Nino
Which of the following is NOT a way that the crew tries to kill Kershaw?
crashing his car into a backhoe
injecting him with a fatal drug overdose
Of course, crashing the car and setting it on fire were done with Kershaw inside. Then, when he staggers out of the burning car and falls to the ground, they try running him over. None of this works.
running over him
setting his car on fire
Why doesn't the first killing attempt, crashing the car, kill Kershaw?
Adrian fastened Kershaw's seat belt
the air bag went off
the backhoe's parking brake wasn't set, so it yielded to the impact
both #1 and #2
"You fastened his seat belt?" demands Daniel, in one of the movie's funniest lines. Adrian, perhaps the dimmest of the three, explains that it's against the law not to buckle up.
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Why don't the police believe Kershaw's story of being kidnapped?
his blood alcohol level was very high
he is from Colombia
he is unpleasant and foulmouthed
his story is so implausible
there were sex toys in the burnt car
all of these
The detectives sent out to interview Kershaw think that his kidnapping -- if there even was one -- must be due to an involvement in the drug trade, possibly with a gay sex angle. It doesn't help that Lugo's crew forced him to drink a ton of liquor, either.
Which member of the crew falls into cocaine use?
Adrian
Daniel
Paul
After the kidnapping and near-murder, Paul's religious convictions take a further beating when he discovers how much he likes cocaine. This is hard on his dwindling funds, which are already low from supporting Sorina in the style she prefers.
Sorina
Which member of the crew loses a toe in a botched armored-car robbery?
Adrian
Daniel
Paul
Paul's robbery lacks the finesse (such as it was) of Kershaw's kidnapping. He simply bashes a guard with a tire iron and grabs the money bag. Things proceed from there as well as you'd expect.
it was a finger
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What does the crew's next target, Frank Griga, do for a living?
he owns racehorses
he smuggles tax-free cigarettes
he runs a phone-sex business
Frank is the third-richest man in Golden Beach. He came to Paul's notice, earlier, when he took Sorina away from Paul at the strip club.
we never learn this
How does Frank Griga die?
he has a heart attack while yelling at Daniel
he ODs on cocaine
Daniel chokes him to death
a barbell plate falls on his head
Of course, if he hadn't been lying on the floor, this wouldn't have happened. He was there because of a fistfight with Daniel, provoked when Griga asked to speak to "board members" involved in Daniel's (supposed) investment.
How does Krizstina, Griga's wife, die?
Adrian ODs her on horse tranquilizer
From here, the movie descends into the crew's lengthy, grisly attempts to dispose of both bodies. It's here that it becomes clear that, no matter how comic the movie is, these were some really awful crimes.
she falls and hits her head while running away
Daniel shoots her
she crashes her car
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Daniel escapes Miami in Kershaw's boat. What kind of boat is it?
a fishing boat
a go-fast boat
Yup, that's really what it's called. These slim, quck boats are also sometimes called "cigarette boats" and are a favorite of smugglers.
a sailboat
a yacht
What's in Kershaw's safe-deposit box in the Bahamas?
gold bricks
family mementos
Though Kershaw had a certain rough-edged charm earlier, this is where we really see his human side. He's boasted about his "offshore accounts," but it's really old photos of his grandparents and parents -- evidently, the things he values most.
euros
zero-coupon bonds
Who played Ed Du Bois, the private detective who pulled all the evidence together?
Bruce Greenwood
Ed Harris
Du Bois is that classic figure of crime fiction: the decent middle-class guy who's content with what he has. This makes him the ideal, detached third party who can distinguish the truth from the lies.
Ving Rhames
Jon Lovitz
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Which character in "Pain & Gain" was actually a composite?
Adrian Doorbal
Paul Doyle
The actual Sun Gym gang was larger than three guys, and "Paul Doyle" was a composite of several men (one of whom was quite religious) who backed up Lugo and Dorbal. Meanwhile, "Sorina Luminata" is a fake name, but there was a real go-go dancer who fell under Lugo's influence.
John Mese
Sorina Luminata
This film was released in 2013. In what time period, though, is it set?
late '70s
early '80s
late '80s
mid-'90s
If you check out online trivia, a number of people have enjoyed pointing out props that don't match the time period, like a version of a Nintendo Gamecube that wasn't released until the 2000s. Come on, people: It's only a movie!
"Pain & Gain" was based on what source material?
a Miami Herald article series
a Miami New Times article series
"New Times" is a chain of American newsweeklies that focus on feature and investigative stories, not day-to-day news. If you're interested in learning more about the facts of the Sun Gym gang's crimes, you don't have to look up the archived articles -- they were made into a book, "Pain & Gain: This Is a True Story."
the memoir of Ed Du Bois
the confidential account of a Miami police officer
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