Movie Title: Spenser Confidential
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Comedy
Writer: Sean O'Keefe, Brian Helgeland
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Iliza Shlesinger, Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron, Austin Post, James DuMont, Michael Gaston, Colleen Camp
Review: Disgraced former Boston police officer Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) is released from a five-year prison sentence for intervening in a domestic dispute and assaulting his captain John Boylan (Michael Gaston). On the day of Spenser's release, Boylan and another officer are murdered. Spenser teams up with his no-nonsense new roommate, Hawk (Winston Duke), to investigate and take down the guilty parties.
Spenser Confidential is a mediocre, no frills, straight-to-Netflix action comedy. This movie isn't particularly terrible, but there's nothing about it that really jumps off the page. It's a film loaded with clichés and simple action sequences, carried largely by the charisma of Mark Wahlberg. Iliza Shlesinger has some hilarious moments as Spenser's foul-mouthed ex-girlfriend. The plot is relatively straightforward, and at least captures your interest for a brief moment before fading away into a land of predictability. All the fun associated with a good thriller or mystery film is unpacking all the details and drawing conclusions for yourself as the movie progresses. I like having to think critically about what I'm watching, not having the obvious result fed to me in the most blatant manner possible.
The end result proves to be a movie with a few bright moments, but lands as a primarily boring action flick with a small injection of comedy once in a blue moon. Spenser Confidential is a good film to mindlessly waste a couple hours; nothing more, nothing less. If you're in the mood for a hilarious buddy comedy with electrifying action, then you may want to look somewhere else.
Fun Fact: This is the feature film debut for Grammy-nominated recording artist, Post Malone (credited as Austin Post).