Mark Wahlberg in Dumb-Fun Apple TV Sequel

Can’t get away for the holidays? Depressed over not being able to spend Christmas in the beautifully decorated cities of London and Paris? No problem. The sequel to Apple TV’s hit 2023 movie The Family Plan is there for you. In the imaginatively titled The Family Plan 2, former covert assassin turned contented family man Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) brings his family to Europe for a fun-filled vacation. But if you’ve seen the first film, you already know that things are not going to go as planned, and that Dan’s violent past will once again catch up with him.

The main difference between this film and its predecessor, besides its obviously increased budget, is that now Dan’s family is already aware of his violent past and seem tickled pink by it. Wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) even finds his skills a turn-on, as evidenced by her delighted reaction when he scales a building to join her in a hotel room on a date night. Why that’s preferable to taking the elevator is never explained.

And kids Nina (Zoe Colletti), Kyle (Van Crosby), and four-year-old Max (adorable twins Peter and Theo Lindsey) are all in, although Nina has decamped to London to attend university and informs her parents that she’ll be staying there for the holidays. Hence the family trip, with Dan, now the head of his own security firm, using the opportunity to meet with a new client to write it all off.

The client, Finn (Kit Harington, fully committed), works at a bank and wants Dan to inspect their security system. But he turns out to be someone else entirely, one with a very personal connection to Dan’s past, whose true identity the good folks at Apple TV have asked critics not to reveal. The restriction is a bit of a hindrance, since most of the storyline’s emotional dynamics, such as they are, stem from the two men’s relationship. But reviewers are an honorable lot.  

Not that it matters, since both films’ raison d’etre is to provide the sort of action-comedy that has become so prevalent on streaming services and a godsend for movie stars whose big-screen popularity is waning (I won’t mention any names). And on that level, The Family Plan 2 delivers more than its predecessor, although that’s a low bar.  

That’s not only because the European location shooting and action sequences are fairly impressive, but also because it’s kind of fun to see Jessica and the kids fully engaged in the action rather than being oblivious to it for comic effect. And Jessica turns out to be a genuine badass, using her athletic skills to leap across buildings and holding her own in a battle with a female opponent armed with a sword.

Another participant is Nina’s new, heavily muscled boyfriend Omar (Reda Elazouar), whose unexpected shirtless appearance in her apartment provides the opportunity for Wahlberg to showcase his potential sitcom skills as a disapproving dad.  

As if to demonstrate that the movie was shot in the actual locations rather than a dressed-up Vancouver, the action sequences are filmed in as many recognizable spots as possible. Wahlberg and Harington engage in a vigorous fist fight on the top level of a double-decker bus crossing the Thames. A car chase, played more for laughs than thrills, features a segment in which a car goes down the famous steps leading up to Sacré-Cœur. (That’s also where Keanu Reeves had some major trouble in John Wick 4, so if you’re visiting Montmartre you might want to steer clear as it seems unnecessarily dangerous.) And where better to set a thrilling parkour sequence than the memorable rooftops of Paris? Both cities, especially London with its gorgeous Christmas decorations, look so spectacular here that the film belongs less on Apple TV than the Travel Channel.

It’s all dumb beyond belief, of course, but the film (efficiently directed by Simon Cellan Jones) is so fast-paced that you settle into its now well-honed formula as if it were a recliner equipped with an eggnog dispenser. Although it’s hard to overlook the stale gags in David Coggeshall’s screenplay, as when the villain pauses mid-fight to ask Dan “Is it true you spent 20 years selling used cars?” and he angrily ripostes, “Certified pre-owned!”

Wahlberg displays his perfected low-key charisma, and Monaghan is a delight delivering lines like “I’m going in there to finish this and save your dad!” In the end, The Family Plan 2 proves more enjoyable than its predecessor, although I can’t say for certain whether it’s because the film is actually better or I’m just mellowing with age. Or maybe I just want to believe in the fantasy that a long-married husband and wife and their three kids all seem to like each other.