The Family Plan 2 Review: Mark Wahlberg and Co. Return For a Ho-Hum Action-Comedy Sequel
One of the general rules of succeeding a sequel is to raise the stakes, something The Family Plan 2 should do, but returning director Simon Cellan Jones somehow finds himself stuck in the first gear. I was wondering why this one even warrants a sequel, but then, after doing some research while typing the review, I found out the first Family Plan turned out to be one of the most viewed movies in the history of Apple TV+. While I enjoyed the overall charming cast led by Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan, with extra credits going to Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby, the movie was pretty much a forgettable, run-of-the-mill action comedy.
The good news is that the sequel retains the charm of this recurring cast, one of the least positive things worth mentioning in The Family Plan 2. The other one would be Benson Boone’s “Mr Electric Blue” plays during the end credits — a playful, yet catchy 80s-style pop song that fits well with this movie. As for the rest, it’s awfully generic as hell and, dare I say, boring and painfully unfunny, turning the otherwise half-baked first movie looking like an action comedy classic by comparison.
So, the story sees Dan Morgan (Wahlberg) now shifting from his used-car salesman profession to running his own security firm. After taking down his former employer, McCaffrey (Ciarán Hinds), who turned out to be his dad, in the first movie, life seems to be back to normal. It doesn’t take long before the title comes into play after Dan plans a family trip to London, which not only allows him to visit his daughter Nina (Colletti), who’s currently studying there, but also to meet his new client.
The client (Kit Harrington) in question is a bearded young man working as a bank manager, who hires Dan to examine the bank’s security system, only to reveal he has a hidden agenda. Apparently, the so-called bank manager, who goes by the name Finn, is deeply connected to Dan’s past. This is where the story should have upped the stakes once Finn threatens his family, and even made things difficult by having Dan framed for a crime. It’s a pity the sequel just goes through the motions, which feels like a slow and laborious ride struggling to reach the finish line.
Earlier, one of the supposedly major action set pieces that takes place atop the moving double-decker bus simply limps with none of the visual flair needed to elevate the excitement. The same also goes for a scene revolving around the nighttime car chase, which is meant to combine action and comedy, but Jones fails to apply a thrilling sense of fun to it. The movie may have been around 10 minutes shorter, but it hardly matters anyway since the story — which again was scripted by David Coggeshall — sticks to the same old formula, and not to mention it sure feels like an eternity sitting through this slop.
Wahlberg and co. do their best here, but they are ultimately hampered by a flimsy screenplay. Not even the added newcomers, including Reda Elazouar as Nina’s parkour-loving boyfriend Omar and Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen shows up as someone whom Dan knows from the past, can help much to offset the movie’s glaring flaws.
The Family Plan 2 attempts to incorporate some Christmas spirit, especially given the movie’s festive setting, but it’s all merely filler. The introduction of Kit Harrington’s Finn lacks the sinister quality that Ciarán Hinds displayed in the first movie, resulting in a weak antagonist character. The comedy, in the meantime, mostly misses the mark.
The Family Plan 2 is streaming on Apple TV+.
