Wahl Street

Early in the series, Sedlar meets with Wahlberg at his home and Wahlberg travels to her Portland store, and it’s the beginning of a beautiful partnership and friendship — but then the pandemic hits, and everything changes for Sedlar and thousands of other small business operators who have to scale way back or close their doors. That’s when “Wahl Street” hits home.

It gives no personal insight into Mark Wahlberg’s life, and it’s not like he’s the most dynamic camera presence when he’s just being himself. That said, there is a part of us that’s itching to see how someone who was riding high — and already stretched super thin — deals with the massive ramifications of a worldwide pandemic, one that affected every business he invested his time and money in.

There are some truly janky filmmaking choices throughout. The trouble with Wahl Street is that it’s not sure whether it’s a pure vanity project or a Horatio Alger-lite primer on how to succeed in business. ... And the advice they give is ... vapid. ... The full series is barely watchable.

This series is a mess. ... The real trouble with Wahl Street is that it has almost nothing to say about Mark Wahlberg or about business that we haven’t heard before. It’s a drooling love letter to the idea of “rise and grind” that, after a year of COVID-induced burnout, feels out of touch.