Spenser Confidential is too anaemic to be anything other than a paint-by-numbers bore offering nothing new and trying to skate by on Wahlberg's charisma alone.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 6, 2020

You don't need to remember the '80s private-eye series Spenser for Hire to enjoy this witless, charmless Mark Wahlberg Netflix movie. All you need is a general lack of discernment.

| Mar 11, 2020

An ending that teases the possibility of sequels, with Wahlberg's Spenser tackling more cases of police officers and emergency personnel who have been falsely accused of crimes, should elicit nothing but groans.

| Original Score: C- | Mar 11, 2020

There are many things to like about Mark Wahlberg as an actor, but he's not very good when his characters have to put their thinking cap on.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 9, 2020

It's an action-comedy-mystery-thriller that manages to spectacularly fail at all the above, an algorithmic abomination that's as coldly constructed as it is clumsily made.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 6, 2020

There's almost nothing about this ultra-disposable programmer that doesn't feel derivative to the point of self-parody.

| Original Score: D | Mar 6, 2020

A coda sets up a sequel. There are worse things to look forward to.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 6, 2020

An insipid buddy-cop mystery that feels like a forgotten artifact of the 1980s.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 6, 2020

As a pilot episode for a rebooted "Spenser: For Hire," "Spenser Confidential" is just corny enough to work. But as a standalone story, it's about as welcome as a curse from the Great Bambino.

| Original Score: C- | Mar 6, 2020

The action is muted, the production design lacklustre, and the momentum engineered for frequent bathroom breaks and other household distractions.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 6, 2020

The business of catching and killing unfolds so schematically that it's hard to invest much in Confidential's reinforced-cardboard characters and bloody plod of a plot.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 6, 2020

It's a fantastically over-the-top, drive-in B-movie for the streaming generation.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 6, 2020

Other than the obvious star power, this tired action-comedy directed by the actor's frequent collaborator Peter Berg feels more like the pilot of a short-lived summer broadcast television series than the film franchise to which it clearly aspires.

| Mar 6, 2020

There are bad cops, and there are bad movies, and there are bad Boston accents, and there are bad movies about bad cops featuring bad Boston accents, namely "Spenser Confidential."

| Mar 6, 2020

The movie passes the time, and has a decent sense of humor.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 6, 2020

The prospect of spending more time with this crew is not a bad one.

| Mar 6, 2020

In their most relaxed collaboration yet, Berg allows the star's natural charisma to define the character, adapting Spenser to Wahlberg's persona rather than the other way around.

| Mar 6, 2020

A possible sequel is teased at the end of this adventure, and that wouldn't be a half bad idea.

| Mar 6, 2020

It's not even clear why the film is called "Spenser Confidential." There's nothing hush-hush about it except this: Everyone associated with the film might want to keep that confidential.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 5, 2020