Wahlberg and Berry have an espionage of cliches.

A movie with Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry should be entertaining, but “The Union” isn’t much. It’s more forgettable and typical than it is funny and thrilling. It’s also the new addition to the Netflix screening room, and you’re gonna make it #1 this weekend anyway, but even viewers can agree they deserve better movies.

Wahlberg’s last two streaming movies were “The Family Plan,” which was released on AppleTV+, and “Me Time,” also on Netflix, but they were both lousy pieces of entertainment. In theatrical terms, he did a good job this year in “Arthur the King,” because he had the right kind of charisma. “The Union” seems like a wasted opportunity for him, although it is marginally better than “The Family Plan” or “Me Time,” which isn’t saying much.

This is also Berry’s first movie since “Moonfall,” which was a pile of butt release, and again, this movie is better than that, which still isn’t saying much. She’s a great actress and she deserved that Oscar for her role in “Monster’s Ball,” but she needs to remind herself why she’s an appealing actress.

Now let’s get to the premise of “The Union,” and then the review.

Wahlberg played Mike McKenna, a construction worker in NJ, who hasn’t prepared himself as Best Man for his friend’s upcoming wedding, lives with his annoying mother (Lorraine Bracco), and sleeps with his 7th grade English teacher (Dana Delany), whom he calls Nicole instead of Mrs. Hoffman. He’s a down-to-Earth guy here.

Then, he reunites with his high school sweetheart Roxanne Hall (Berry), who tricks him into having a fun night, tranquilizes him, and abducts him to London, where her base is. “What base?,” you’re asking. Well, she is part of a secret organization that does the work for the C.I.A., and it’s called “The Union.” And she needs Mark, a nobody, to help them on a very important mission. What is it? I couldn’t really follow, and now, I just don’t really care. I’m going to forget about it anyway.

Here’s her team. There’s her leader Tom Brennon (J.K. Simmons), who looks more like an old buddy than a boss; the muscle Frank Pfeiffer (Adele Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who has to tease Mike during training, the tech girl Athena Kim (Alice Lee), who is forgettable at best (at least in my opinion), and Foreman (Jackie Earl Haley), who used to be a construction foreman. Hence the name: Foreman.

And of course, as Mike and Roxanne collaborate, they have their moments of wisecracks, romance, and conflicts, all spiked with the game of cat and mouse. I think you know how these things go.

There are some fun action scenes like a rooftop chase, when Mike has an important bag and as he and Roxanne are fighting the bad guys, it basically zigzags almost all the way down. Just be glad it didn’t break. And there’s also a car chase, with some hot looking cars (one of them is purple), and when Mike is on the hood of one car, it stops and throws him in the trunk of another car.

Director Julian Farino (“Entourage,” “The Child in Time”) gives “The Union” a stylish look, but he doesn’t give the actors the right kind of charm and charisma. In fact, the clichés and conflicts they get themselves in are often formulaic and annoying. Again a movie starring Wahlberg and Berry could be entertaining, but they need the right screenplay and the right kind of humor to levitate themselves within the genre.

Maybe next time, guys.

Streaming on Netflix