{"id":50976,"date":"2025-10-02T09:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/50976\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:54:07","slug":"stream-it-or-skip-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/50976\/","title":{"rendered":"Stream It Or Skip It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Play Dirty, now streaming on Prime Video<\/a>, Mark Wahlberg is Parker, a professional thief out of pulpy paperback novel legend. But the thing is, this version of Parker he\u2019s playing was maybe originally<\/a> gonna be played by Robert Downey Jr.? Downey is still an executive producer on Play Dirty, directed and co-written by his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang<\/a> partner-in-crime, Shane Black. But that\u2019s where his involvement ends in this slapdash-feeling adaptation of a series of crime novels by Donald Westlake. Wahlberg stars in Play Dirty alongside Rosa Salazar and LaKeith Stanfield, with appearances by Thomas Jane, Tony Shaloub, and Gretchen Mol.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PLAY DIRTY<\/a>: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Gist: When we meet him, Parker (Wahlberg) is already heading up a big money heist. It\u2019s the cash room of a horse race track they\u2019re knocking over, until somebody on the crew double-crosses the rest of the crew, and Parker instead wakes up with a bullet to the belly and a lot of work to do, if he\u2019s gonna recover the proceeds he just lost. He forms a new crew \u2013 with Zen (Salazar), Grofield (Stanfield), and Ed and Brenda Mackey (Keegan-Michael Key, Claire Lovering) \u2013 and together they plan a new heist, one with an even bigger payday and just maybe some side juice, if Parker can make it so his enemies in criminal organization The Outfit, especially Lozini (Tony Shaloub), feel the sting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Did you get all that? Did you catch those proper nouns? It might be interesting for you to learn that Parker, Grofield, Ed Mackey and his wife Brenda, even The Outift and its heavy, Lozini \u2013 are all characters from the various books about Parker by author Donald Westlake, who wrote the series under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Basically, every book is about this cold, calculating thief, whose speciality is the planning and execution of heists, and how every job he\u2019s on inevitably goes south during another version of \u201cDo I have do everything myself?\u201d But the thing you learn with Play Dirty is, as a film, it is inevitably going south. So whether these characters and situations rose out of novels it\u2019s based on really doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

In recent action-type outings, Wahlberg has also come to rely on a tweaked version of his usual brand. Let\u2019s call it perturbed reverse charisma. It\u2019s like, if Wahlberg\u2019s character is required to knock the hell out of some goons, fine, but this activity isn\u2019t going to make him more happy about anything. We don\u2019t know why anyone would want to watch him do this, but he\u2019s still doing it, movie after movie, and here it is in Play Dirty, where his Wahlbergian Opposite Rizz has the effect of making us forget Parker even had a reason for his latest elaborate heisting. There was the bad one, the first one. Which lead to the bigger one. Which leads to the actual one? Which leads to an ever-increasing bill in henchmen lives and property damage? For Parker to\u2026like, get even or something? We forgot the stakes because we got lost trying to calculate how many reps it takes for Mark Wahlberg to frown so hard.<\/p>\n

\"Mark Photo: Prime Video<\/p>\n

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Back in 2020, Spenser Confidential<\/a> was another Mark Wahlberg-led insert of a classic character into Wahlberg-led action-comedy generica. Then, in 2024, Wahlberg led The Union<\/a>. No classic character to strand in that one, but still with the identical action-comedy generica. Will Wahlberg\u2019s work in Play Dirty help it transcend those other DOA action vehicles? Maybe if his Parker was anything more than Wahlberg simply showing up and looking mad.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Performance Worth Watching: Play Dirty is not giving her much, like at all. But Rosa Salazar is still doing the work here as Zen. At least she\u2019s trying, which is more than you can say for the Play Dirty script. Go ahead, try and keep track of all the people Zen is supposed to be double-crossing.<\/p>\n

Memorable Dialogue: Here\u2019s a line of Parker dialogue from Play Dirty. \u201cYou tried to kill me. Alright, I\u2019m over it. Look at me. Holding grudges is not how I do business.\u201d In the book series this film is based on, that moment might have gone toward a bit of salty pragmatism. Here, paired with Wahlberg\u2019s flat growl, it just sounds pushy and whiny. Seriously, is he threatening someone or sending back his meal in a restaurant?<\/p>\n

Sex and Skin: Some, and it\u2019s somehow more random than the total randomness this film was already highlighting with all of its random murders and violence.<\/p>\n

\"PLAY Photo: Jasin Boland \/\u00a9 Amazon MGM Studios \/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Our Take: Lots of guys have played movie versions of Parker. Lee Marvin (Point Blank<\/a>), Robert Duvall (The Outfit<\/a>), Jim Brown (The Split), Mel Gibson (Payback<\/a>), Jason Statham (Parker<\/a>) \u2013 and Play Dirty even lifts bits and pieces of what those films already lifted from the books. But it\u2019s maddening this doesn\u2019t matter more than it should. We just don\u2019t understand why a movie goes through all the trouble of adapting a character from the page when what it arrivea at is so bland, it could have been adapted from a Chili\u2019s menu.<\/p>\n

Play Dirty tries for a little of that dark situations banter. The kind that had goons and other colorful underworld types in Shane Black joints like Kiss Kiss and The Nice Guys<\/a> all gabbing about payouts and plans amid sharp bursts of violence and near-slapstick moments of personal injury. So you get Wahlberg\u2019s Parker going after Nat Wolff\u2019s Outfit loudmouth, hanging him out of a window, the whole thing \u2013 until he\u2019s in a hospital with cartoonish injuries, crying to his boss about Parker. This gag might have heft if Wahlberg gave his guy anything more than standard-issue grim face. But he does not, and we\u2019re left to endure another round of murders and car crashes \u2013 with maybe a snowmobile added \u2013 until the set of bad guys we\u2019re supposed to care about get closer to proving they\u2019re, like, better at being bad guys than the other ones. That this film seems to want us to scream \u201cSequel!\u201d as we clap for them is really its final insult. With Play Dirty, we\u2019re the ones who get played.<\/p>\n

Our Call: Skip It. With black hole-like precision, Mark Wahlberg sucks out what little life existed in Play Dirty, a choppy heist action-comedy thing from Shane Black. Walberg\u2019s supposed to be Parker, a master thief from a famous book series. But that character\u2019s legacy is wasted. The only thing Play Dirty masters is being annoying.<\/p>\n

How To Watch Play Dirty<\/p>\n

The new Mark Wahlberg movie Play Dirty is currently streaming exclusively for Prime Video subscribers.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t a Prime Video subscriber yet, you can get started with a 30-day Amazon Prime<\/a> free trial, including Prime perks<\/a> like the Prime Video streaming service<\/a>, free two-day shipping, exclusive deals, and more. After the free trial, Amazon Prime costs $14.99\/month or $139\/year.<\/p>\n

All 18- to 24-year-olds, regardless of student status, are eligible for a discounted Prime for Young Adults<\/a> membership as well, with age verification. After a six-month free trial, you\u2019ll pay 50% off the standard Prime monthly price of $14.99\/month \u2014 just $7.49\/month \u2014 for up to six years and get all the perks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social<\/a>) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Play Dirty, now streaming on Prime Video, Mark Wahlberg is Parker, a professional thief out of pulpy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[39189,39190,412,146,39191,39192,85,46,30729,39193,39194,39195,38805,39196,37578,397,39197,39198,38807,39199,39200],"class_list":["post-50976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-action-movies","tag-audiobooks","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-gretchen-mol","tag-heists","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jason-statham","tag-jim-brown","tag-keegan-michael-key","tag-lakeith-stanfield","tag-mark-wahlberg","tag-mel-gibson","tag-movie-reviews","tag-movies","tag-robert-duvall","tag-rosa-salazar","tag-shane-black","tag-thomas-jane","tag-tony-shalhoub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}