The new Mark Wahlberg movie “ Infinite ” poses an intoxicating scenario for all down-on-their-luck know-it-alls: What if you’re actually a reincarnated immortal who is not just the smartest and the best at everything but also necessary to save humanity? In the world of Hollywood wish fulfillment premises, women get to discover they’re secret princesses.
He offered up a cash reward to a reader who could connect him with a literary agent, a publisher or a Hollywood executive.
And yes, “Infinite” is infinitely silly, but it’s not without some pleasures, many of which come from Wahlberg delivering lines like “are you talking about reincarnation?” and “I’ve been analyzed in every way possible” in that way that only Mark Wahlberg can — with manic earnestness that under the right circumstances can be passed off as intentional comedy.
Building a world like this, with warring factions of Infinites , requires a lot of voiceover and explanation woven into conversations.
As Evan, Wahlberg is attempting to be a kind of everyman here, a maître d’ for high end restaurants who is unemployable after a mental health incident and is worried about paying rent and running out of the pills that keep his mind in check.
But the Infinites catch wind of his existence after he constructs an authentic samurai sword for a local drug dealer in exchange for meds.
And it’s exactly the kind of big, silly, occasionally exciting spectacle that have come to define summer movie season, for better or worse.
“Infinite,” a Paramount+ release available Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “for sequences of strong violence, some bloody images, strong language and brief drug use.” Running time: 106 minutes.