Swiftly greenlit after the success of the first film is The Family Plan 2 that sees Mark Wahlberg’s former covert government operative and now security expert Dan Morgan getting for ready for Christmas in Buffalo, New York with his wife (Michelle Monaghan), teenage son (Van Crosby) and now tweenie youngest son (played alternatively by twins Peter & Theodore Lindsey). But his daughter Nina (Zoe Colletti) won’t be with them as she’s in London with her college college and what with study and term time she’ll barely be able to fly home before she has to be back in London.
So the family plan by Dad is for them to fly to London and spend Christmas there and surprising his daughter. Except the surprise is on over protective Dad when they rock up at her student flat, an unfeasibly large residence that suggest her overdraft is equivalent to the national debt, when out from the shower pops hirtherto unknown boyfriend Omar (Reda Elazouar) cheery, friendly and with a shredded torso with less fat than a lettuce leaf.
But it’s the death Of Dan’s criminal dad who saw out his days in prison that sees Dan’s estranged brother (Kit Harrington) help him unwittingly break into a bank that sees the film kick into action with Dan out to capture his brother, thwart his diamond stealing plans and save his family in the process. It’s as hectic as might be expected though well orchestrated by BAFRA award winning Brit director Simon Cellan Jones who after decades of prestigious TV drama that includes Cracker, Our Friends in the North & Boardwalk Empire sees him segue effortlessly into the action genre for the sequel to the original film that he also helmed.
Pitched as a Christmas movie it certainly maintains that but for the first act only when they’re in a London that celebrates Christmas (so presumably prior to Sadiq Khan’s mayorship) and maintains its seasonal good cheer until they all decamp to Paris where any nods to Christmas are minimal to non-existent ( so presumably Sadiq Khan was mayor of Paris at this point). Its nicely played by all the cast with Elazouar endearing as the affable well meaning boyfriend but once in Paris it becomes an all out family friendly action film and like one character rightly says, ‘This isn’t the Christmas we ever expected!’
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Here’s The Family Plan 2 trailer…..
