Apple’s Comedy Routine Mark Wahlberg – The Hollywood Reporter

Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti, and Van Crosby in The Family Plan.

Courtesy of Apple TV+

No one envies the rights of secret killers to retire from their dangerous profession and start new lives as devoted husbands and fathers. But really, should they be the subjects of weak action comedies too? That question comes to mind thanks to a new Apple TV+ movie starring Mark Wahlberg, who plays a former secret killer who finds that leaving his past life behind isn’t as easy as he thought. Its concept is high but its results are thin to the breaking point. Family plan It looks like a movie whose best moments were during the pitch meeting.

How dedicated Dan Morgan (Wahlberg) is to starting over is demonstrated by his choice of residence, Buffalo, New York, and his current profession as a used car salesman. Of course, as compensation he has a beautiful and loving wife, Jessica (Michelle Monaghan), three children, including baby Max, and two teenagers who keep secrets. Nina (Zoe Colletti) secretly quit her high school newspaper where she was a star reporter; Kyle (Van Crosby) never gave up his addiction to ultra-violent video games, which led to him becoming an internet celebrity known as “KillBoy.”

Dan, who earnestly tells his client, “It’s never too late to become the man you wanted to be,” is clearly embracing his new identity. He’s an expert at changing diapers, takes Jessica to the amusement park where they first met every anniversary, and doesn’t mind having sex only on Thursdays. Everything seems to be going well until he is shopping in a supermarket with Max strapped to his chest and is violently attacked by a would-be killer who he must fight off even while making sure his child comes to no harm. The resulting sequence proves to be both exciting and entertaining, and marks the climax of the film, which repeats the same joke over and over again.

Dan proposes a cross-country family road trip to Las Vegas without telling his family members his true identity, or that a team of assassins has been assigned to kill him by his former coach McCaffrey (Ciarán Hinds, in full bad guy mode). Who seems to resent Dan for leaving his previous profession. Cue an endless series of gags in which Dan engages in brutal fights and dangerous car chases while his family members are oblivious or sleep through it. Except, for Max, the saintly child who never cries and who seems to find all of his father’s near-fatal encounters highly amusing. If you play a drinking game emotional over every reaction shot of the kid laughing adorably, you’ll die before the movie’s over.

As the trip continues, Jessica is attracted to the fresh and spontaneous Dan, who suddenly displays a new masculinity and reveals that he knows not one but two foreign languages. But despite his best efforts, his pursuers eventually catch up with him and he is forced to reveal his past as they all find themselves fighting for their lives. No spoilers here, but the movie’s tagline seems to be “The family that kills together, stays together.”

Working from a script by David Coggeshall that at times proves rather amusing, director Simon Cellan-Jones proves unable to make the comedic elements or the action elements completely work (although he does make sure to include the requisite shirtless scene for Wahlberg so We can admire how well it works.) He still takes care of himself.) The actor, who is no stranger to comedy, does his usual thing here to decent effect. But the real spark is provided by Monaghan, who displays a winning enthusiasm for throwing herself into the physical aspects of her role as a wife and mother discovering her inner strength. The wonderful Maggie Q also appears briefly as a character who seems one thing but then turns out to be something else entirely. Which is more than you can say about it Family plan.