Fresh off leading roles in Spenser Confidential, Joe Bell, Infinite, and Father Stu, Mark Wahlberg’s time spent as critical kryptonite in recent years did not end in 2023. Alternating between action hero and everyman in a dramatic predicament, Wahlberg swings back into the former in The Family Plan, proving his contentment with sub-mediocrity yet again. A true slog of overused comedy and action tropes with almost no interest in developing the characters, Apple TV+’s highly mixed slate of films for 2023 ended with a pure dud.
‘The Family Plan’ Premise
Returning to feature films after a two-decade absence, director Simon Cellan Jones teams up with the charming Wahlberg to tell the tale of Dan Morgan, a content car salesman and former top-tier assassin whose past catches up to him and his loving family.
The Once-Great Acting Career of Wahlberg
Even in his lesser moments, the former rapper starred in numerous beloved roles throughout the height of his acting career in the 2000s and early 2010s. Invincible, We Own the Night, and Ted all received praise even with mixed reviews, while Boogie Nights, The Departed, and The Fighter all saw awards attention. Plenty of not-so-good films slipped by (The Truth About Charlie was one of this era that disappointed almost everyone), but no one would say he was unsuccessful with audiences and critics during this period.
In The Family Plan, Wahlberg remains a shadow of his former self. Real-life inspiration allowed his 2018 appearance in Instant Family to succeed despite him, but his settling into running on autopilot is more visible in the past decade. His slow but impossible-to-deny decline in acting ability peaks with this recent film, where Orphan: First Kill screenwriter David Coggeshall designs Wahlberg’s role as someone who wants to be average, and the actor takes that quality far too literally.
Mark Wahlberg, Van Crosby, Michelle Monaghan, and Zoe Colletti in ‘The Family Plan’
‘The Family Plan’ Disregards Almost Anything We Go to Movies For
Without likable characters, moving acting performances, or a hearty laugh now and then, The Family Plan is wholly without anything but the most basic of entertainment. Ciarán Hinds showing up as the villain does nothing to add the gravitas it was supposed to, and every character is the most hopeless of archetypes – this includes verbal sparring between a gaming-obsessed teen boy and an anti-patriarchy teen girl. Like everyone in The Family Plan, the always-delightful Michelle Monaghan gets no inspired or worthwhile dialogue. One of the worst movies of last year, this is, simply put, the antithesis of storytelling entertainment.
The Family Plan is streaming now on Apple TV+.