When Marry Me was released last month, I felt guilty for giving it a bad review. It really wanted to revitalize the dead rom-com genre, but it borrowed all the tropes that killed it in the first place and gave us two leads that had all the chemistry of a caramel-apple sucker and braces. Somehow, The Lost City has swung in with its random cast and is the closest thing we currently have to a rom-com-resurrection.
In The Lost City, Sandra Bullock plays a tired romance novelist who is dissatisfied with the fluff she’s been writing for years and wants to get out of the business. On her latest book tour, she is once again overshadowed by the cover model of her books (think Fabio), played by Channing Tatum. Yet, this publicity tour is about to change everything as a wealthy collector, played by Daniel Radcliffe, abducts her and forces her to guide him to the focus of her most recent novel.
I wish the trailer didn’t give so much away in terms of the humor, because so many of the actually funny jokes are spoiled. That said, there are genuinely chuckle-worthy moments still found within. Sandra Bullock is an impressive physical comedian. Watching her be self-aware at all times in her sequined jumpsuit made even drab scenes stand out.
Channing Tatum proved his comedic timing in the 21 Jump Street movies, but has largely disappeared since. His chemistry with Bullock is the element that makes this all work so well. His character is essentially a cowardly lion, who has the appearance of courage, but shrinks whenever the slightest amount of danger presents itself. He so badly wants to be the fictionalized version of himself, but those choices put him directly in danger. Brad Pitt gets a glorified cameo and it honestly makes for some of the movie’s funniest moments.
The villain and the reason for the treasure hunt are laughably bad. Sure, Daniel Radcliffe plays a beta baddie decently. Though, any time he’s about to explain his reason for being so evil, it almost seems like the script interrupts his exposition. It feels like the screenwriters placed a “TBD” in the script to move the plot forward, but forgot to actually come up with reasons for the adventure to happen.
There will be obvious comparisons to Romancing the Stone and that’s fair, but this movie is going for a much more simple route with a heavier focus on comedy and charisma. As far as the adventure elements go, this is a far better adventure flick than the recent Uncharted.
The Lost City is a great date movie. It has fun death-defying adventure elements, solid humor (I laughed four times), and cheesy romance as well. This is definitely one of those movies where you can turn your brain off, but you’ll be pleased with the results. The plot is riddled with holes, but the chemistry between Bullock and Tatum will make you largely forget all about their inexplicable character motivations. B-
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