Why Critics Hate Mark Wahlberg’s New Movie From Oscar Winner

Following its release on Prime Video yesterday, reviews for Mark Wahlberg‘s newest buddy comedy movie are beginning to arrive online, revealing the critics’ disappointment over its underutilized cast. Amazon MGM Studios’ Balls Up movie was directed by Peter Farrelly, who won two Academy Awards for 2018’s Green Book.

What did the critics say about Mark Wahlberg’s Balls Up movie?

So far, Balls Up has already scored an approval rating of 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews. The new film wasn’t able to end Wahlberg’s recent streak of starring in badly-rated movies, which started with 2024’s The Union at 36%. Since then, all three of his 2025 movies weren’t well-received by critics, including Flight Risk (29%), Play Dirty (42%), and The Family Plan 2 (30%).

Most of the critics described the film as “unfunny” due to its heavy reliance on “dick jokes.” Some felt that Wahlberg was miscast, with Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter even suggesting the movie would have benefited more from “the manic energy of a Jack Black or Jim Carrey.” Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com also believed that even though Paul Walter Hauser is a great actor, he wasn’t able to save “this disaster.”

Nearly a decade after directing Green Book, Farrelly still hasn’t been able to replicate its critical success with his follow-up directorial features. Before Balls Up, he directed two star-studded comedy movies in 2024, including Jack Black’s Dear Santa and John Cena’s Ricky Stanicky, which both scored negative reviews. At the moment, he is preparing for the upcoming debut of his next collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios, I Play Rocky, on November 13, 2026. The upcoming biopic film tackles the behind-the-scenes story of Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 film Rocky.

Balls Up also starred Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), Eva De Dominici (The Cleaning Lady), and Daniela Melchior (Road House), with Molly Shannon (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat), and Eric André (Bad Trip). Farrelly directed the R-rated movie from a screenplay written by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Source: Comingsoon.net