Over the decades, Mark Wahlberg became one of Hollywood’s most beloved and acclaimed movie stars. His first majorly acclaimed role was with Paul Thomas Anderson in the porn drama Boogie Nights. His next major project was with M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening and the last couple of Transformers films. The Perfect Storm, Planet of the Apes (2001), and The Italian Job were his bug budgeted movies in the early 2000s. Martin Scorsese, David O. Russell, and John Singleton, Mark as worked with all three of them. For his role as a police officer in the crime drama The Departed, Mark received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. For The Fighter, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. The movie was a biographical sports drama. Additionally, Mark’s TV credits include executive producing the five HBO series: the comedy-drama Entourage, Boardwalk Empire, How to Make It in America, Ballers and McMillions. Today we decided to list Mark Wahlberg’s 10 best movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
The Other Guys (78%)
The Other Guys is a 2010 American buddy cop action comedy film. You’d be surprised to know that Adam McKay was having dinner with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg when he realized Will and Mark had chemistry like no other. In a short span of time, he came up with the idea of a buddy cop movie and he emailed his producer with the idea. Fortunately, the producer loved that idea and agreed. And the rest is history. That is the story of The Other Guys. The movie also has some things to dish on to the 2008 banking crisis. The Other Guys is directed by Adam McKay and co-written by Chris Henchy. The cast besides Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg includes, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dwayne Johnson.
Traveller (79%)
Traveller is a 1997 American crime drama film. The young Mark in Traveller tells the tale of Wa an Irish traveler amongst a bunch of Irish Travellers in North Carolina. The story is about a man joining a group of nomadic con artists in rural North Carolina. Traveller is directed by Jack N. Green. It stars Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, and Julianna Margulies in the cast. The movie marks Mark Wahlberg’s earlier on-screen appearances and thus he plays a supporting role in it. The movie is led by Bill Paxton, but Mark’s an integral part of it. Traveller is one of a kind since not many movies get made about Irish Travellers in Hollywood. There are many British movies centered on those, but not in America.
All The Money In The World (79%)
All the Money in the World is a 2017 American-British crime thriller film. Fun fact about the movie: The role of the multi-billionaire oil tycoon J Paul Getty was supposed to be played by Kevin Spacey. But after the numerous sexual assault allegations against him, Christopher Plummer was roped in to play the role. All the Money in the World is directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa. The movie is an adaptation of John Pearson’s 1995 book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty. The story is of J Paul Getty who was one of the richest people in the world but he refused to give up a penny to pay his grandson’s ransom. Mark plays a CIA operative. All the Money in the World stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, and Romain Duris.
Patriots Day (80%)
Patriots Day is a 2016 American drama film. The movie is centered around the Boston Marathon bombings and the police investigation to hunt those responsible. Mark plays a cop on the frontlines in the subsequent terrorist manhunt. Patriots Day is directed by Peter Berg and written by Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer. Patriots Day may not have done well at the box office but it was listed by American Film Institute as one of the 10 best films of the year. The other main cast members are Kevin Bacon plays an FBI agent, John Goodman plays the city’s Police Commissioner, and J.K. Simmons plays a sergeant. The film is based on the book Boston Strong by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge. Interestingly, Patriots Day is the third collaboration between Berg and Wahlberg, after Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon.
Instant Family (82%)
Instant Family is a 2018 American comedy-drama. The movie is yet another collab between Daddy’s Home director Sean Anders and Mark Wahlberg. Instant Family is the story of a couple, Peter Wagner and Elinore Wagner played by Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne who want to foster children. The children (played by Isabela Moner, Gustavo Escobar (Gustavo Quiroz), and Julianna Gamiz) they adopt are three siblings and Peter and Elinor don’t want to break them up. So they end up being the parents of three kids overnight. Instant Family also stars Margo Martindale, Julie Hagerty, Tig Notaro, and Octavia Spencer in the lead roles.
Deepwater Horizon (83%)
Deepwater Horizon is a 2016 American disaster film. The movie is the adaptation of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg, from a screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand. Deepwater Horizon stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, and Kate Hudson. It is an adaptation of a news story that appeared in The New York Times article written on December 25, 2010. The article was titled, “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours” and it was written by journalists David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul. It was an expose of BP and the corporate greed that swept facts under the rug from 2010 since oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico disaster occurred. Sadly the movie bombed at the box office.
The Departed (91%)
The Departed is a 2006 American crime film. The movie is the Boston-set redo of the Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. The Departed stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg in the lead roles. Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin feature as the supporting cast of the movie. The Departed is written by William Monahan. The whole movie is a tense cat-and-mouse thriller about an undercover cop and a detective working with the mob chasing each other. Though it may look like Mark Wahlberg had a small role in the movie, but in the final minutes, his plot serves as a game-changer.
The Fighter (91%)
The Fighter is a 2010 American biographical sports drama film. The movie is directed by David O. Russell. It stars Mark Wahlberg (who also co-produced), Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo in the lead roles. The story is centered around the lives of professional boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), while Amy Adams plays Micky’s girlfriend Charlene Fleming. Melissa Leo plays Micky and Dicky’s mother, Alice Eklund-Ward. The Fighter is an adaptation of the 1995 documentary that features the Eklund-Ward family, named High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell.
Boogie Nights (93%)
Boogie Nights is a 1997 American period drama film. I’d put it as the greatest Mark Wahlberg movie ever! He starred in the lead role as Dirk Diggler, a porn star. Boogie Nights is set in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. It focuses on Dirk Diggler starting as a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular porn star. Dirk has humble beginnings and then he falls from grace. The ensemble cast includes Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, and Burt Reynolds. The movie is based on the golden age of the porn industry. Mark Wahlberg’s performance anchored Boogie Nights. It was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Three Kings (94%)
Three Kings is a 1999 war comedy film. The movie is a tale of four American soldiers played by George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze. They are on a gold heist that takes place during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein following the end of the Gulf War. Three Kings is directed by David O. Russell, based on a story by John Ridley.
