Play Dirty

A less successful adaptation of the Parker novels than that of Jason Statham (there's a sentence you don't hear often), Mark Wahlberg stars in what is easily the worst, and most bland, Shane Black movie ever made. After a heist gone wrong, Parker (Wahlberg) works with the duplicitous Zen (Rosa Salazar) on an even larger heist which will pit him against his old enemy Lozini (Tony Shalhoub) and the Outfit.

For a heist movie, Play Dirty (not to be with the equally lackluster offering by that name also released this year) is middling at best. Perhaps in an attempt to recreate the hardboiled characters from the printed page, writer/director Shane Black forgets to bring the wit or the fun.

Wahlberg is without charm and woefully miscast in the brains of the operation. The rest of the cast is immediately forgettable other than Shalhoub whose impatience and exhaustion on-screen with the situation he's found himself could easily been inspired by the actor's discomfort discovering the project is a complete dumpster fire.

Without a standout moment, line, or sequence (which for a heist movie is nearly impossible), Play Dirty has the look and feel of a movie made on the cheap (at least for mainstream Hollywood standards). While not unwatchable, there's nothing really worth watching for what can kindly be referred to as one of the bigger disappointments of 2025.

• Title: Play Dirty
• IMDb: link