Mark Wahlberg a little lost in The Family Plan (review)

Between espionage and comedy, this Apple TV+ thriller benefits from an ideal cast (Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan cross paths with Ciaran Hinds) but never manages to escape the clichés of the genre.

The pitch is extremely simple: a model father, Dan Morgan struggles between his daughter in the midst of an existential crisis, his son obsessed with video games and an infant who demands a lot of attention. In short, he lives a very routine existence. But when a squad of armed guys arrives to kill him, we discover that behind the quiet American is a former member of a highly trained government elite force. To save his family while maintaining his secret, Dan takes his wife and children on a weekend in Vegas.

The Family Plan is therefore in line with the brilliant True Lies (where James Cameron updated the comedy of remarriage while making his James Bond) or the recent (and underrated) Nobody. The principle of identification comes into play: all those in their forties who are well established (in their lives and especially in their armchair), and all the average father of a family, must then ask themselves how far they could go to save their family. If it worked extremely well in True Lies, which managed to subtly balance action, comedy and even feelings, that is not completely the case here.

All of this actually lacks credibility and balance (we almost wrote nuances). By dint of totally gonzo scenes (you have to see the sequence where Mark Wahlberg distributes punches and low kicks while protecting his infant strapped in his baby carrier – totally improbable) the film loses its interest and becomes only more or less effective entertainment based on the talents of Wahlberg. The former bad boy from Boston, whose talents as a muscleman we know, is always at ease in the comedy register and, for example, plays the simpleton very well at the wheel of his family station wagon to outrun enemy cars in his path. kits… But, just like the appearances of Michelle Monaghan as a surprise wife, that won’t be enough.

The chases and fights follow one another in a too mechanical manner until an explosive (and violent – with a dirty diaper story which we’ll leave you the surprise) conclusion that we’ll forget just after turning off our TV.

By never clearly choosing between comedy, espionage or hardcore revenge story, The Family Plan never finds his plan and becomes too frustrating.