The Family Plan

While this is not a movie where you'll be amazed by the plot it sure delivers on both action and comedy fronts and sometimes that's all we need from a movie: to spend a good time laugfhingh and see good action.

A popcorn movie? Sure, but in a wold where,m save a few exceptions, most movies are very slow burns with crap characters only defined by their gender or secuality I'm just hjappy to see a movie that is just a movie.

It has heart too, Michele Monagan never disapoints and even Mark Whalberg does a hreat job as the father figure.

A fun ride throug and through, jighly recommended in these dark times as we all deserve to crack a laugh.

So there was some money left and no ideas. How easy is it just to remake a high scoring film but without the large budget. This is so copied from True Lies, even the main character has the same job and there is also the evil Asian woman. The ending with a show out against the baddies in an empty building, same. Between the first and last act there is the road trip ala National Lampoon's Vacation and it feels as boring as the real trip possibly would be. A few scenes are inserted to show how the kids and parents are growing to eachother. The film is trying to copy the light hearted touch of True Lies but fails. Is it a bad film? No surprisingly it is entertaining enough to sit along, mainly due to the main characters Mark Wahlberg and the amazing Michelle Monaghan. It's an actrice I don't see much, but she does a great job and it feels there is chemistry between both persons. And Mark Wahlberg never changes and I still love this guy for his commitment.

Part action, part comedy, here comes a Mark Wahlberg movie that is both typical for this actor, but also something you likely saw (or close to) in the past. That said, its 2023 and almost everything has been done already, so the real question is this. Is it well done this time? Is it fun? And the answer is yes.

The movie take a bit of inspiration in True Lies but put its own spin on family road trip comedy with some "We are the Millers" vibe, while injecting some decent action sequences in there.

Having a runtime of 2 hours make sure the movie put enough emphasis on the familly relations and developing its characters, wich can be a definite plus, but at the same time i felt the movie dragged a tiny bit in the first half. Maybe 10-15 minutes could had been cut. But it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Mark Wahlberg is definately in pretty solid shape still, wich make his character completely credible, but he ain't no martial artist so seeing him go toe to toe with Lateef Crowder (a Copeira expert) did showcase some of his shortcoming. That said, that scene was meant as a mix of comedy and action and not to be taken too seriously so for most peoples who are not martial arts afficionados, it should not be a problem. The rest of the action including gun scenes were well done.

Michelle Monaghan is also pretty solid in her role as the mom of the familly. Charming and charismatic. The kids also got to have enough screen time and developement that they felt usefull and interesting in the story. Every character pretty much as its own arc.

Overall its a movie that i taught was pretty enjoyable on a first watch. It is a mix between comedy and action but at the same time since it never fully commit to either side, you can't say its a super funny comedy or a big action movie. It is a bit of everything and it makes for a good story tough.

Ultimately not every movie is meant to be watch multiple times and considering Apple TV+ has a pretty limited selection of mainstream original movies (Ghosted being one of the few great ones), it is a welcome addition that both casual viewers and cinephile should enjoy.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Family Plan is a pretty fair action comedy film that has a family road trip with Mark Wahlberg having a secret life before them. As he was once a rogue agent and trained to kill. And a bunches of henchmen are after him.

The plot is okay which involves Mark Wahlberg trying to connect with his teen kids and trying to break the news to his wife the truth.

The action sequences are okay and entertaining. Mark Wahlberg did great in the role. The rest of the cast did okay as well. The villain felt underdeveloped. The humor can be cheesy with Mark Wahlberg and the baby fighting with the baby just giggling through tough situations.

Overall, it was a pretty fair film with plenty of fun action but cheesy humor.

This was a cute movie, where Marky Mark (also producer here) is in a physical shape that is truly exceptional, and married to a beautiful wife with only a very civilized age gap. There's product placement, but not too much. There's staggering violence, but it's all squeaky clean so it can be a Xmas movie. All the supporting cast is ethnic just the right amount. The family is flush with tremendous cash, which helps plot advancement as well as beautiful cinematography / scenes.

It was very enjoyable, assuming enough suspension of disbelief. The whole thing is obviously very predictable, but it's executed nicely. Everybody but the teenage daughter is world-class level at something, so while it's promoting family values, it is, for a change, not promoting mediocrity.

I watched this while cycling indoors, was perfect to get me through my winter workout.