The most clicked on (and hopefully read) post in the few years of The Legionnaire’s existence is the review for Father Stu (2022).  I am proud of this, though it also makes sense given the Catholic focus of this blog.  The movie stars Mark Wahlberg as the title character.  When his career outside of Hollywood is brought up, the fact that he is a practicing Catholic is sometimes discussed.  If you engage with the kind of media as I do, you will see him talking about his Faith and doing advertisements for a prayer app called Hallow.  Yet, at the same time, he is a working actor who appears in a large number and wide variety of films.  Not all of them are of the same quality as Father Ted, and I wish he would do more like that one.  If you also understand Catholicism to a great degree, you might find some of what he does off and on camera puzzling.  I offer to you this discussion of The Family Plan as proof of all of what has been written thus far.

A title like The Family Plan does not give many clues as to its true nature.  The same can be said for about two-thirds of the run-time, but we will get to that soon.  For now, Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) appears to be as average of a guy as one can imagine.  He works as a car salesman; has a lovely physical therapist wife, Jessica Morgan (Michelle Monaghan); a gaming enthusiast son, Kyle Morgan (Van Crosby), who is known in the online world as “Kyllboi;” a budding social activist daughter, Nina Morgan (Zoe Colletti); and a toddler, Max Morgan (Iliana and Vienna Norris).  Kyle and Nina are teenagers, and they are rebelling against their dumb parents.  Dan does not like what video games are doing to Kyle, so he bans his son from playing them.  Nina is obsessed with her boyfriend, Trevor (Colby Burton), to the particular annoyance of Jessica.  Despite the angst, Dan and Jessica manage to get their older children to agree to watch Max while they go out for their anniversary.  While on this date, we learn some more about Dan.  In addition to his ability to observe minute details about people, which we have already seen, he does not like appearing in anyone’s social media.  This comes up when he and Jessica are photographed in the background of a group selfie, and the person taking the photo refuses to delete it.  Instead, he endures having a drink poured on his head instead of letting things get physical.  He is also a man of routine as evidenced by the calendar of family activities prominently displayed in their kitchen.  Jessica loves him for his dedication, but she admits to somebody she meets at the gym, Gwen (Maggie Q), that some aspects can be somewhat hard to deal with at times.  For instance, Wednesday is taco night, and Thursday is sex night.  As they have this discussion, Dan is at the grocery store with Max.  While there, he is attacked by an armed man.  If it had seemed like there is more to him than we had seen so far, the way he defends himself confirms it.  Why this is happening is not important, apparently. It is to Dan, though, who promptly calls a former associate, Augie (Saïd Taghmaoui), to ask for new identities for him and his family.  These cannot be obtained from their home in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York.  Thus, Dan arranges to meet Augie in Las Vegas in a few days.  He then hurriedly packs for his entire family and goes to collect them.  In the process, he learns that Kyle is still playing video games on the sly, and Nina has quit school journalism.  As for Jessica, this sudden whirlwind of seeming spontaneity from Dan, while a little off-putting, is welcomed.  His behavior is strange, such as his insistence on throwing all their cell phones out of the window as they cross a bridge, but he leans into it as showing more enthusiasm for them and their trip.  Along the way, he keeps meaning to reveal his true identity to them, but the right moment never presents itself.  Instead, there are some successful opportunities at mending some of the damaged relationships.  The first comes when they make a stop at the college Trevor is attending.  Jessica impresses her children by doing a keg stand, while Dan teaches Nina some jiu jitsu moves to use on Trevor when he is caught cheating with another girl.  As for Kyle, he and dad have a bonding moment when they go play laser tag and Kyle convinces Dan that playing video games can be a useful skill.  For good measure, I will throw in here that as they are traveling, there are a number of assassins that Dan has to tangle with to survive.  It all culminates when they reach Las Vegas.  While Dan takes Jessica to a fancy dinner during which he hopes to tell her the truth, Kyle and Nina bring Max to an online gaming arena where he gets recruited into a match.  The kids were not supposed to do this, and when Dan phones to check on them and there is no answer, Dan and Jessica return early to their room.  Instead of finding the kids, they are greeted by a group of assassins.  Dan’s expert handling of the situation tells Jessica everything he had failed to reveal to her.  After making their way out of the hotel, he tries to explain everything to them, telling them they need to lead new lives, but they will not listen.  The next morning, Jessica arranges with Gwen for transport back to Buffalo.  This is when the big reveal finally comes.  She works with McCaffrey (Ciarán Hinds), who runs a team of assassins that hire themselves out to the highest bidder.  McCaffrey is also Dan’s biological father, which is another revelation to Jessica and the kids.  At any rate, Gwen and McCaffrey capture Dan’s family, leading to a long climactic action sequence where all sins are forgiven and the good guys emerge victorious.  The end.

In the introduction to this review of The Family Plan, I talked about how some of Wahlberg’s actions can be confusing. For example, despite what some of you might think based on recent announcements from the Vatican, the Church does not support gay marriage, though in real life he is an advocate for their rights.  There is a fine line to walk with this issue, and I am going to leave it at that.  Either way, for somebody who, according to his Wikipedia page, goes to Mass “twice on Sundays,” I wonder about some of the roles he does.  While he did apologize for playing Eddie Adams in Boogie Nights (1997), a film about the pornography industry, I do not get some of the stuff I see in The Family Plan.  While the two are not comparable in terms of content, I just worry about what his wife might think about some of the stuff you see in the latter.  There is no explicit sexual content, but does he have to appear shirtless in one scene to show off his muscles?  One of the reasons I write The Legionnaire is so that you do not have to make compromises in order to be entertained.  If you know about the content contained in a given movie, it might help you make a more informed decision as to whether to consume it.  As for Wahlberg doing this movie, since he is the big-time star that he is today, I would think he might look at some of the scenes in which he is being asked to appear and think twice about them.  I understand that he is an actor, which is sort of like being paid to lie.  At the same time, I hope and pray that Wahlberg and his wife are able to navigate what has got to be difficult to explain to other members of his family, including his wife.

In many respects, The Family Plan is nothing new.  There were a couple moments when you see something unexpected, but otherwise there is a familiarity to practically everything.  I am not sure I recommend this one, but at the same I cannot say there is anything objectionable about it.  It is extremely unremarkable.