Diapers and Danger in ‘The Family Plan’

Movie: The Family Plan

PG-13   Action/Comedy

Streaming on Apple TV+

Featured Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michele Monaghan, Maggie Q

The Family Plan, an Apple original film, is a fresh take on the assassin-transforms-into-a-normal-life trope. In most films featuring a former assassin, the hitman leaves his old world behind. He rebuilds his world with a new family, only to tragically lose them when an old nemesis reappears for revenge. Rarely does the new family survive and the former assassin spends the entire movie seeking vengeance.

In The Family Plan, Mark Wahlberg stars as Dan Morgan, a successful car salesman living in a suburban neighborhood in Buffalo, NY. He has a wife, three kids, and cheerfully drives a minivan. His two teenagers supply a combination of apathy, sarcasm, and misplaced anger throughout the film. His wife, Jessica (Michele Monaghan), secretly dreams of a more adventurous life. Their toddler son says little but grins and giggles often and is much nicer than his siblings. His family is completely unaware that he was once an elite government assassin.

When Dan is inadvertently filmed on cell phone and goes viral on social media, multiple killers descend on his neighborhood to eliminate him and his family. To protect them, Dan suggests they take an impromptu road trip to Las Vegas. His wife agrees to the trip, as this is the spontaneity she’s been looking for. On the road to Vegas, Dan grows closer to his family, discovering a side of each of them that he hadn’t noticed before.  

There are three words to remember when watching this movie: Suspend. Your. Disbelief.

Throughout the trip, Dan’s family remains clueless to the danger around them. An epic car chase in traffic with vicious killers on motorcycles while the rest of the family stays asleep? Sure. Hand-to-hand combat with another assassin as they toss each other across a university lab while his family tours the same building? Why not. Even the climactic battle toward the end of the film is textbook Hollywood, including multiple explosions, high kill counts, and a painful-to-watch female fight scene. Yet, it was a nice change of pace to actually witness a family sticking together to protect one other amidst all the violence.

If you’re open to a film filled with action and comedy, with a sprinkle of realistic family ups and downs, then give The Family Plan a try. As a parent, I was pleasantly surprised and entertained. The Family Plan is currently streaming on Apple TV+.