At the end of Netflix’s Spenser Confidential, after our heroes clear the name of a falsely accused cop, former police officer Spenser (Mark Wahlberg), his mixed martial artist friend Hawk (Winston Duke), his old friend Henry (Alan Arkin), and his girlfriend Cissy (Iliza Shlesinger) are all sitting together celebrating with a lobster meal at a restaurant when a news story on TV about a firefighter being arrested catches their eye.

Spenser, who spent the entire film clearing one uniformed person of a crime, decides in front of his protesting friends that he’s going to clear this man too. With the credits rolling, I feel it’s cute that the director of the film had the confidence to believe that Spenser Confidential would have a sequel.

If you’ve seen a few cop films over the years, then you’ve seen Spenser Confidential, a mediocre action-comedy cop film that’s directed with surprisingly little flair by Peter Berg, who made a big splash with the sports drama Friday Night Lights in 2003. I can see why the combination of Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg appealed to Netflix. The two have collaborated several times with watchable films such as Deepwater Horizon (2016) and Patriots Day (2016).

If you’ve seen a few cop films over the years, then you’ve seen Spenser Confidential

They’ve also made a stinker such as Mile 22 (2018). Unfortunately for Netflix, Spenser Confidential is something of a stinker too. Netflix should figure out what went wrong, because Spenser Confidential has a distinct made-for-TV quality to it. The acting is mediocre. Everyone from Mark Wahlberg to Winston Duke seems to be phoning it in. Playing Spenser’s former partner, Bokeem Woodbine (Driscoll), is probably the most convincing performer in the film.

The action is sparse and dull. While this can be expected from a low-budget film, the writing doesn’t compensate. The screenplay by Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland, based on the book Wonderland by Ace Atkins, is completely cookie-cutter cop movie trash, with one cliché after another. To make matters worse, the film foreshadows every twist beforehand. For example, when we briefly see a souped-up truck at the beginning of the film that Spenser makes a big deal about, we know it will show up later. When we see Spenser trust someone in law enforcement, we know it’s just a setup for betrayal.

Still, a clichéd cop film can be entertaining with enough chemistry between the actors and some laughs. But the chemistry between the performers is poor, while the laughs are sometimes off-target.

Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg have also made a stinker such as Mile 22 (2018). Unfortunately for Netflix, Spenser Confidential is something of a stinker too. Netflix should figure out what went wrong, because Spenser Confidential has a distinct made-for-TV quality to it.

The worst thing about Spenser Confidential is that it’s a confused film. It starts as something of a procedural and every action from our heroes has consequences. We learn that the good guys can’t put the bad guys away without solid evidence. But in the last act, it’s almost as if Peter Berg said: “F*** this stupid film.” Suddenly, it turns into a shootout.

The same federal agents who wanted more evidence are happy to prosecute crooked cops based on evidence that was driven to the scene by Spenser from another site where the same crooks weren’t even present. This, after keeping it at home for a day or so! Meanwhile, Hawk straight up shoots a goon in cold blood, Rambo-style, without any firearms training. All of this leaves you wondering if they were going to go Arnold Schwarzenegger on everyone, why didn’t they do so at the beginning instead of playing detective? If the filmmakers didn’t care about this film, then you shouldn’t either.

Rated R for violence, language throughout and sexual content

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 29th, 2020