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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Peter Bradshaw

The Family Plan review – Mark Wahlberg and his abs forced to revive special forces past

Family fun … Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby in The Family Plan.
Family fun … Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby in The Family Plan. Photograph: Jake Giles Netter/Apple TV+

Once again demonstrating his stolid competence in playing both straight action or comedy, Mark Wahlberg is the action-comedy lead with amazing abs in this glossy but weirdly forgettable tranche of content; it is directed by the estimable Simon Cellan Jones, known for more heartfelt work including BBC TV’s Our Friends in the North.

Used car salesman Dan (Wahlberg) is living the American dream as a family man in the ’burbs with wonderful wife Jessica (played by the excellent but somehow underused Michelle Monaghan) and three kids: two teens and a late-blessing baby, whose existence testifies to Dan and Jessica’s continuing loved-up bliss. But Dan has a secret: he is of course a former special forces warrior in a mercenary crew covertly used by the US government for deniable operations.

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