An action comedy that is manic, but succumbs to its own weight

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.

- Samarth Goyal

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