Play Dirty could have been movie to end Wahlberg rut

Atone point the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, Shane Black has always had a knack for characters. Specifically, for writing winningly funny action heroes — sassy, endearing roles that draw fresh and unexpected work from familiar actors.

- Louis Chilton, The Independent

Mark Wahlberg

He did it with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon (1987). He did it with a freshly sober Robert Downey Jr in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), a film that directly led to Downey’s reinvention as an A-list blockbuster phenomenon. And he did it with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in 2016's The Nice Guys, an underseen buddy-noir movie with a zealous fan-base. Now, it's Mark Wahlberg's turn to get the Shane Black treatment. With Play Dirty, Wahlberg has been given, for the first time in years, a role worth sinking his teeth into. But I'm not sure he manages much more than a nibble.