Action movie fans have all seen Mark Wahlberg save lives in films like Four Brothers, Two Guns, and Lone Survivor. In his most recent picture, The Family Plan, an Apple TV+ original film, Wahlberg reprises his role as a former government assassin.
It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, of course, but it offers a well-rounded enough experience to make for, at the very least, a fun family movie night. Mark Wahlberg has established himself as a Hollywood regular with a lengthy and prosperous filmography by skillfully fusing comedy and action.
With roles in critically acclaimed films like The Departed and The Fighter, as well as popular comedies like Ted and The Other Guys, Wahlberg has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to blend humor that makes audiences laugh aloud with intense action scenes.
The Family Plan will officially be available on Friday, December 15, 2023. Apple TV+ will be the only place to get the Family Plan. If you don’t have a membership yet and want to get one in time for Mark Wahlberg’s upcoming film, Apple TV+ is available for $9.99 a month and offers a seven-day free trial.
Plot Of The Movie
The plot of The Family Plan centers on Dan Morgan (Wahlberg), a married father of three. But to defend the world from its greatest peril, Dan will have to go further into his background as a government assassin. We first see Dan persuading a man to purchase a brand-new automobile.
Dan comes inside after concluding the deal to discover that he has once again won salesman of the month at Planet Car Deal. He ignores his boss when it’s time for him to get his picture taken for it, claiming he has to get home to his family. Dan returns home to find his teenage children squabbling over who gets to care for their brother while Mom and Dad go out on a date night. It’s his and his wife’s anniversary.
A child snaps a photo of Dan on their date night and posts it to social media. Dan gets pursued at a grocery shop by folks from his past as a result of this. After taking the man out with a fight, he goes back home to prepare for the family’s departure from town.
One of the year’s most epic chase scenes is directed by Simon Cellan Jones as the family sets out on their journey. Dan needs to maneuver through traffic while the family is sleeping in the car to avoid some males riding motorcycles who are approaching.
Although Jones did a terrific job capturing the adrenaline, this editing is effective in showing how Dan can battle the men by slipping in and out of the scene while the infant reacts. Naturally, Mark Wahlberg plays the title role of Dan Morgan, a family man, in the film.
Boogie Nights, The Italian Job, Lone Survivor, Daddy’s Home, and Uncharted are just a few of the noteworthy movies that Mark Wahlberg has acted in, produced, and even performed in.
In The Union, which is scheduled to debut on Netflix in 2024, he will also star with actors like Halle Berry and J.K. Simmons. Michelle Monaghan, who probably gained most recognition from her parts in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Gone Baby Gone, plays Dan’s devoted wife.
The youngsters Nina and Kyle, who enjoy playing video games a lot, round up the Morgan family. Zoe Margaret Colletti plays Nina, while Van Crosby plays Kyle. Ciarán Hinds, Maggie Q, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Jonny Coyne are among the other members of the ensemble cast of the movie.
In addition, Twitch streamer iiTzTimmy, who presently plays under Valkyrae’s previously mentioned gaming firm, and live-streamer and YouTube sensation Valkyrae, co-owner of 100 Thieves, make their feature film debuts in The Family Plan.
The Family Plan Movie Review
It makes perfect sense that Mark Wahlberg would star in a movie that combines suburban family clichés with the world of espionage, like the superb “True Lies” or even the underappreciated “Nobody.” Wahlberg has demonstrated enough comic timing and action prowess in his prior work.
Seeing a regular family man turn into a highly trained assassin appeals to viewers who have ever wondered if they could save their own family in a situation when they were being pursued or if the enigmatic gentleman on their block had a hidden background.
It’s an entertaining little subgenre when done right, like in the fantastic James Cameron picture that’s currently available on 4K VOD. “The Family Plan” is not, when executed properly. In the role of Dan Morgan, Wahlberg portrays a regular person who enjoys his family traditions and works at an auto dealership.
He plans sex with his wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) for Thursdays, and they eat tacos on Wednesdays (Tuesday is too predictable). He faces certain challenges in raising his two teenagers. While Kyle (Van Crosby) pretends he’s still playing the shooter games his father forbade him from playing, Nina (Zoe Colletti) wants to transfer from Stanford University to Southern Iowa University to follow a boy.
While the action is taking place, a third child appears out of nowhere. This child is just old enough to make funny baby faces and noises. Repeatedly and incessantly. With the infant in a carrier strapped to his chest, Dan must fight off an assassin during the first major action scene in a grocery store, where the baby plays a significant role. You’re not incorrect if you think this is absurd.
It’s the first sign that “The Family Plan” is not going to make it, as it relies more on ludicrous circumstances than anything real or relevant for humor. The best examples of this subgenre have familiarity woven throughout the comedy and action, which adds to their attractiveness. “The Family Plan” never provides a solid basis for relatable human behavior, nor does it make up for its unbelievable thrills or laughter.
Dan was formerly employed as a hired killer by a mysterious man by the name of McCaffrey (Ciaran Hinds). After his identity is revealed, he contacts an old friend, Augie (Said Taghmaoui), to arrange a meeting with the Morgans in Vegas so they may begin a new life.
This results in a road trip—yes, that sounds terrible—from Buffalo, New York, home of the Morgans, to Vegas, where Dan can purportedly tell Jessica the truth and maybe work out his issues with his teenagers along the way. It’s also a justification to watch grownups belt out “Ice, Ice Baby” in the car rather than creating original jokes or personas.
Furthermore, the fact that there are SO many pictures of the infant behaving strangely or humorously shows how little the authors trust either their viewers or their characters. The Morgans finally arrive in the City of Sin after thwarting assassins from New York to Nevada—always in a way that everyone but the infant misses.
While I’m willing to suspend disbelief for a ridiculous comedy like this one, Dan’s decision to leave his kids—including the infant—to go out to a nice dinner with Jessica is absurd. Naturally, the Morgans split off, McCaffrey locates them, and the truth is revealed to all.
Once more, Mark Wahlberg can pull off something similar. He can pass for both a traditional family man and a real assassin because of his wide-eyed puppy dog appearance. When it comes to adding dimension to Jessica’s character as a housewife who longs for her carefree youth, the perpetually underappreciated Monaghan can do this kind of stuff in her sleep and even finds a few beats.
Regarding underutilized performers, Maggie Q impresses as Jessica’s new buddy despite her meager contribution. I also think Zoe Colletti is great in her part as the daughter, even though it’s a thankless one. The failure of “The Family Plan” is not the fault of anyone portrayed on screen.
All of them are okay, but they’re swimming upstream against a director who can’t seem to combine a normal family with extraordinary action into a cohesive vision and a script that doesn’t give them enough to do. A few incredibly violent scenes, like gunfire in a packed Vegas casino and a death involving a filthy diaper that will never leave my thoughts, close the film.
It’s another sign that nobody was quite sure what kind of film to produce here—a spy thriller, a family comedy, or a hybrid of the two. So, they didn’t select any of the options.
