‘American Pain’ Review: When the Pills and the Money Kept On Flowing

Beginning round 2008, a series of shady ache clinics popped up in South Florida. The storefronts administered opioids on a sweeping scale; customers and sellers alike would journey a whole lot of miles to load up. The capsule mills have been run by Jeff and Chris George, twin brothers whose want to get wealthy fast fueled the operation.

The story of the Georges receives a dynamic retelling in “American Pain” (on Max), named with heavy irony after one in all their clinics. The director, Darren Foster, frames the movie virtually as a profile, starting with the twins’ upbringing earlier than zipping to the launch of their enterprise. In interviews, previous associates of the brothers — and the brothers themselves, talking by cellphone from jail — speak brazenly in regards to the slickness of the enterprise, the effectivity with which they moved guests out and in. Foster pairs the testimonials with footage from TV news reporters and, finally, from undercover missions by federal brokers.

As struggling carried on round them, Jeff and Chris made thousands and thousands. Foster casts a transparent eye on this cruelty, however the movie additionally revels within the rollicking nature of the lads’s enterprise. Plenty of time is spent on the nuttier particulars of their enterprise: the extreme office ingesting, the cash transported in trash baggage, the receptionists employed for seems alone. Given solely a cursory look is the damaged system that enabled the lads to conduct their dealings. At the time, Florida legal guidelines have been past lax. And even because the orders grew unwieldy, pharmaceutical suppliers continued to ship the clinics drugs.

The utility of an lively character research of wicked opioid kingpins is questionable. But the documentary unspools with sufficient model and spark to have interaction.

American Pain
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. Watch on Max.