Play Dirty
Amazon MGM Studios | Release Date (Streaming): October 1, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
6
Negative:
5

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
ColliderNate RichardSep 30, 2025
The latest action-comedy from Black proves that he's still capable of delivering an equal parts funny and action-heavy comedy with all the trademarks that make us love him as a filmmaker. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJim VorelSep 30, 2025
[Black] hands us a frenzied combination of action, comedy and criminal caper, patently absurd but well served by knowingly silly performances and solid jokes. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 30, 2025
While this isn’t quite the stuff of vintage Black, it’s close enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing him crank another one out every two years for the next decade. Read full review
63
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 30, 2025
It’s hard to imagine Mark Wahlberg as Parker, even after you just watched him play Parker for two hours. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentOct 3, 2025
Not quite vintage Black, and Mark Wahlberg is no Robert Downey Jr, but this is fast and funny enough to be worth a couple of your hours. Squint hard enough and it almost feels like you’re back in the ’90s. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 30, 2025
Play Dirty wears its stupidity boldly, proudly, almost aggressively. It dares you to find anything remotely plausible or realistic or even insightful about it. You either get on its wavelength and ride with it, or you run screaming. I mostly rode with it. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyOct 3, 2025
A potentially interesting-if-imperfect mash-up of contrasting sensibilities (Stark vs. Black) turns out to be just another one of the curiously fake-looking blockbusters that emerge every now and then from streaming’s abyssal money pit and immediately disappear from the public consciousness. Read full review
55
The Daily BeastNick SchagerOct 1, 2025
While its humor often sticks, its mayhem fails to land. Read full review
40
Next Best PictureGiovanni LagoOct 3, 2025
By the end, Play Dirty feels less like a fresh Shane Black comeback and more like another casualty of the streaming churn, loud, empty, and forgettable. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 30, 2025
As in most of his roles since The Departed and The Fighter, Wahlberg shows little charisma, particularly when he’s flanked by an actor with the irreverent verve of LaKeith Stanfield, who steals every scene without even breaking a sweat. That’s not to say Wahlberg is the movie’s sole shortcoming. Not by a long shot. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzOct 2, 2025
Although it has a solid cast, some amusing bits, and lots of imaginative violence, “Play Dirty,” a comedy-thriller-action movie about the theft of already-stolen treasures in a plot to topple a dictator, is easily the most forgettable of Shane Black‘s films, as both writer and writer-director. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSep 30, 2025
Shane Black’s film plays like a misguided action extravaganza from the 1980s. Read full review
30
The New York TimesRobert DanielsOct 1, 2025
Play Dirty is a misanthropic work. Which isn’t inherently a deal breaker, but a stiff Wahlberg lacks the moxie to make the brutal barrage of death amusing or worthwhile. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 28, 2025
It isn’t all that much fun. The odd chuckle doesn’t atone for the scads of laughs that just don’t land in a story that spins its wheels on the snowy streets of NYC. Except when the crooks drive a Rivian. Read full review
25
The Film MavenKristen LopezOct 3, 2025
It's not that Play Dirty is a terrible movie, just a very dull one. Read full review
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