'Family Plan 2' is a case study on why doughnuts should be enjoyed fresh, not second time around, a while later.
The sound of one hand clapping is about the sum of the applause that the follow-up to 2023’s Apple TV smash hit Family Plan deserves. That’s because the movie is like a stale doughnut. It looks as if it could have been yummy; instead, it’s somewhat ho-hum.
So, it’s been three years since Dan Morgan defeated his father, McCaffrey, and imprisoned him. Dan now runs his own private security firm; his wife, Jessica, is a triathlon coach, and his daughter, Nina, is studying in London with a secret boyfriend dad “will not and does not approve of”.
Son Kyle is 18 and growing toward independence. Dan, aka Wahlberg, feels like his family is drifting apart, and after all, it’s the festive season. They should be together.
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Nina cannot return to the States for Christmas, so Dan decides to ship the family across the Atlantic to spend the holiday season with her. He takes a job at a bank in London to test the security system, which, in turn, funds the family trip. But, of course, being the Morgans, it all goes a bit awry 10 minutes into the setup.
Plot. Much?
As Dan tests the security system at the bank and breezes into the safe-deposit box vault, he’s stopped by a bank staffer. Turns out, the whole job was a ruse to get him to break into the bank on behalf of baddies, in broad daylight.
Finn, the guy who hired him, also turns out to be his half-brother. In the vault, Finn grabs a safety deposit box that contains a digital key, makes off, and frames Dan and his wife for the silent heist. The Morgan family quickly became fugitives in England.
The digital key gave Finn access to his late father’s computer servers, which hold vast funds and full details of his network. The servers are in a mansion in Paris, which is where the Morgans immediately head. The trip across the channel revealed the truth about Dan’s upbringing to his family. That he was, in fact, the offspring of a filthy rich man.
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So, the plot plays out. Dan chases Finn to get the key and destroy it. The Morgan family’s festive time runs in parallel with the adventure it has turned into. Assassins are after Dan and his crew. To destroy the server system, a virus needed to be uploaded to it. It’s eventually done. The money flickers into the nether along with everything else.
Servers, secret digital keys, loads of cash
Grandpa Morgan’s Parisian butler and various peripheral characters come and go throughout the action. The brothers have a final showdown. Then Nina’s boyfriend, whom we learn is named Omar, shovels in his dad, who turns out to be the head of Interpol. Lo and behold, the family gets all the charges dropped against them. And it’s Christmas.
The happy theme continues, and back in the States, the Morgans move to Ohio to accommodate Jessica’s new job at a university. Omar is accepted into the family. Nina, Gen Z and all, start a green business. Dan and Finn make up in prison. Aww.
That was the whole film in a handful of paragraphs. Now you don’t have to watch it. The original Family Plan, at its release, was the most-watched film in Apple TV history.
The streamer clearly tried to repeat the success with the sequel. It doesn’t. The film is as forgettable as, well, I forget. It’s ok to sit through, but why do that when there’s so much else to nail you to your couch for good reason.
Family Plan 2 is a case study on why doughnuts should be enjoyed fresh, not second time around, a while later.
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