The Stream: Disjointed story with questionable acting choices.

The Big Screen: Solidly entertaining action flick.

The Final Bill: While entertained by the heist-y movie, there’s something just off about it

– S2S: Movie Reviews
Director: Shane Black
Writers: Donald E. Westlake, Shane Black, Chuck Mondry
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller, Drama
Rating: R (Strong language, violence, nudity)
Runtime: 2 hours
Production Companies: Amazon MGM Studios, Big Indie Pictures, Modern Pictures
Platform: Released on Prime Video on October 1, 2025
Coming soon to Prime Video: Hedda

Welcome back, Streamers! This week I was able to catch up and watch a recent straight to streaming flick, Play Dirty. The movie follows our boy, Marky Mark, as Parker, a detailed thief trying to get a score everyone says, “can’t be done”.  He assembles a crew, as always, and heist hijinks ensue throughout NYC. Let’s see how this one turns out.

So, Play Dirty is strange in a way. It is a weird mash up of a heist, a thriller, a drama, and a comedy.  It’s got action and thrills but also not just comic relief but a semi-spectacle comedy element. The movie has like two modes, and it takes a while to get to the main heist of it all.  Or, I guess I should say the Ocean’s Eleven portion of the movie. The movie has like 3 speeds (fast, slow, and hyper-speed) where the movie starts off fast then shows to a catatonic pace and then the director jumps the shark to the end with no transition.  You may think that’s not bad, but the movie just goes crazy to an extremely fake level.  We went from realistic to cartoon levels of destruction to the point where the viewer must suspend belief beyond any basic level physics to not question what’s going on. Better said, everyone would’ve died and yet somehow because we suspended belief everything is A-Okay. Just surreal! Then, somehow, they bring us back to reality, so whatever!

As far as thrilling, action, and basic entertainment goes, Play Dirty can keep you engaged. As far as comedy goes, you’ll find the banter, one liners and jokes decently funny.   The casting feels disjointed and random, but the actors individually are pretty solid doing what they normally do. 

Long story short, Play Dirty will entertain you, but something is just odd about it.   The pacing is off.  The comedy is fine but weirdly placed at times.  And yet, in the end, you’ll still get the thrill of a heist.  Head over to Prime Video when you get a chance and check out Play Dirty with a bowl of popcorn.