Play Dirty (2025)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A professional thief must navigate a complex web of betrayals and high-stakes heists to avenge a fallen comrade.
The story
Professional thieves Parker and Philly lead a heist at a racetrack count room, but an employee kills one of the thieves and wounds Philly, driving away with the stolen money and his family. Parker pursues him onto the racetrack and shoots him dead, bribing his wife and escaping with the score. The thieves are betrayed by getaway driver Zen, who shoots Philly and the others as a wounded Parker falls into a nearby river. Recuperating at a motel, Parker promises Philly's widow Grace to avenge her husband. With help from fellow thief Grofield, who runs a struggling theatre company, Parker begins a journey to track down the betrayers.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After a heist at a racetrack goes wrong, Parker is betrayed by getaway driver Zen. While recovering, Parker teams up with Grofield to track down Zen's associates. He learns that Zen is working for a corrupt President De La Paz to steal a $1 billion treasure from a shipwreck. Parker joins forces with Zen's comrades to intercept the treasure from a rival syndicate, the Outfit. The plot involves multiple heists, including a train robbery and a high-stakes pursuit in New Jersey. After a series of double-crosses and dangerous encounters, Parker eventually confronts Zen and the corrupt officials. He destroys the genuine treasure to keep it out of the wrong hands, kills the primary antagonists, and ultimately delivers a portion of the loot to Philly's widow before returning to his life of crime with Grofield.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 128
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Shane Black
- Writers
- Shane Black · writer; Charles Mondry · writer; Anthony Bagarozzi · writer
- Cast and characters
- Mark Wahlberg · Parker; LaKeith Stanfield · Grofield; Rosa Salazar; Keegan-Michael Key; Chukwudi Iwuji; Nat Wolff; Gretchen Mol; Thomas Jane; Tony Shalhoub
- Genres
- heist; action; thriller
- Themes
- revenge; betrayal
- Tone and mood
- sardonic
- Premise and plot tags
- heist; action; thriller; crime
- Source material / true-story basis
- Parker book series by Donald E. Westlake
- Reception
- The film was described as a 'ho-hum caper' that lacked the spark to sell its lead character.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 46 · scale: 100 · review count: 15
- Production trivia
- The title was repurposed from an unused screenplay for Lethal Weapon 2.; Robert Downey Jr. was originally attached to the film.; The film was shot in locations including Sydney Harbour.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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