TL;DR – An interesting idea and solid family dynamics, that unfortunately gets dragged out past its strong point.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this film.

The Family Plan Review –

There are some actors that play themselves in every film they are in, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the movie. If there is a perfect example of this, it is Mark Wahlberg, who I can keep or take depending on the outing. Today’s film looks like it will be something right my alley, but I have been burnt before.    

So to set the scene, Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) is a mild-mannered family man who is friends with the whole neighbourhood, does a good job selling cars, has a slightly dysfunctional family life, and does not like his photo taken. Which makes it most surprising when he is at the shops, an assassin attacks because it looks like someone has been burnt, and a whole world of pain is about to come to suburban Buffalo.

I will say that there was a lot of fun mined from Dan running from a hit squad while also hiding from his family that something was very wrong. It is a disconnect that works both ways, but only in a movie. Probably the best moment is the synced headphones/Orinoco Flow intersection. All the characters are written to be very broad stereotypes, and you can probably chart their character arcs from the start of the film. Though I will say, they did a reasonably good representation of a not awful or problematic Twitch streamer, though maybe not an eSports tournament.

As far as the action goes, it tends to skew more to the comedic side of things, which suits Mark Wahlberg’s acting style. The best moment was probably at the start when he was surprised in the shopping centre and had to fight while having a baby strapped to his front. The action does work better in the wide than up close when the stunties really get to play. As the film goes on, they do start to lose impact, which leads to my biggest issue with this film, well, besides wasting Maggie Q.

A lot is going on here: some fun symbolism with the red drink flowing off like blood in the shower, some serious Buffalo shade, and probably some of the best toddler acting I have seen. However, all of this exists in a two-hour film that may have enough content for a solid ninety minutes, maybe. This makes the back half of the movie feel incredibly dragged out, especially when you feel like a lot of it could have been jettisoned without losing the flow of the film. When you are working in the same space as classic films like True Lies, you can’t leave room for bloat.

In the end, do we recommend The Family Plan? Well? Look, I don’t think it ever quite hit its potential. However, the family worked well together, and maybe another script or editing pass could have tightened things up a bit more. Enjoyable, but also a bit forgettable. If you liked The Family Plan, we would recommend to you Polite Society.    

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched The Family Plan?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Family Plan
Directed by – Simon Cellan Jones
Written by – David Coggeshall
Music by – Kevin Matley
Cinematography by – Michael Burgess
Edited by – Tim Porter
Production/Distribution Companies – Apple Original Films, Skydance, Municipal Pictures & Apple TV+
Starring – Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti, Van Crosby,  Iliana Norris, Vienna Norris, Ciarán Hinds, Maggie Q & Saïd Taghmaoui with Joyner Lucas, Kellen Boyle, Felicia Pearson, Lateef Crowder dos Santos, Miles Doleac, Jonny Coyne, Kash Abdulmalik, Colby Burton, Al Vicente, Ryan Homchick, Chantal Maurice, Joey Mekyten, Nolani, Tony Louise Calloway, Bonnie Johnson, Nichele Lambert, Ray Kam, Hayley Keown, Timothy An & Rachell Marie Hofstetter  
Rating – Australia: M;