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An action comedy that is manic, but succumbs to its own weight
Hindustan Times Gurugram
|October 04, 2025
W riter-director Shane Black is known for turning the actioncomedy on its head, from the classic Lethal Weapon (1987) to 2016's The Nice Guys.
His latest outing Play Dirty, now streaming on Amazon, marks his return to the genre after almost a decade.
This time, the filmmaker takes on the task of adapting novelist Donald E Westlake's Parker series for the screen. A robbery gone wrong sets the stage for this throwback comedy: career criminal Parker (Mark Wahlberg) is betrayed by new recruit Zen (Roza Salazar), who wipes out his crew and makes off with the loot. She later ropes him into a bigger scheme involving a priceless artifact, a corrupt dictator, and enough money to topple entire nations. This leads to a series of double-crosses, mob entanglements, and an explosive New Year's Eve showdown.
THE GOOD
This story is from the October 04, 2025 edition of Hindustan Times Gurugram.
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