Play Dirty (2025) review

Following the successful (albeit destructive) robbery of a racetrack, professional thief Parker (Mark Wahlberg) and his crew get attacked by Zen (Rosa Salazar), who they thought was one of their own, and only Parker survives - after recovering from his injuries, he teams up with actor Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), tracks down Zen and they band together for an even bigger score: swiping a valuable artifact called "The Lady of Arintero" that criminal organization The Outfit (led by Tony Shalhoub) also covets.  Although it has some of the witty banter actor-director Black's features have been known for, that's not enough to counteract the numerous problems: Wahlberg is too inherently "nice" to play an unrepentant murderer (he's no Lee Marvin ... or Mel Gibson), the special effects are lousy (which is odd because Amazon is footing the bill) and the movie's strangely uninvolving, since it's mainly thieves robbing other thieves with law enforcement nowhere around (or busy manhandling people who aren't "white").  A few of the side characters add a little charm - Nat Wolff as a crypto-bro is amusing and Shalhoub is always a welcome sight - but this isn't the best big-screen adaptation of a Donald E. Westlake story.