THE LOST CITY Review
Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum rom-com is far funnier than it looks… almost surprisingly so?
On paper, The Lost City seems very much like something that could be a cool high-concept romcom action-adventure. In fact, it does deliver on what’s promised in the trailer, plus it does quite a bit more with the clever teaming of Sandra Bullock with Channing Tatum.
Bullock plays romance novelist Loretta Sage, who is about to head out on a book tour for her most recent book, “The Lost City of D,” after been holed up in her home for many years. Much to her concern, she’s been paired with her book’s cover model Alan (Tatum), better known to adoring fans as the hero of her books, Dash, with his long-flowing blonde locks. (Spoiler: It’s a wig.) Loretta is kidnapped by billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who wants her to decipher real hieroglyphs pointing to the valuable “Crown of Fire” in the REAL lost city of D. Concerned for his benefactor (who he also has a secret crush on), Alan calls upon ex-Navy Seal Jack Trainor (Brad Pitt) to help find and rescue her, but things go awry, leaving Loretta and Alan to evade and then fight Fairfax’s mercenaries on their own.
Directed by Aaron and Adam Nee from a screenplay written with Oren Uziel (23 Jump Street) and Dana Fox (Couples Retreat) and based on a story from Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), this is a comedy that could have easily gone as horribly wrong as Loretta’s book tour, because it does require quite a high degree of suspension of disbelief. For instance, you might wonder how Loretta always looks perfectly coiffed with just the right amount of make-up despite being kidnapped and rescued with no notice (or place) to pack any sort of make-up kit, but that’s fine. This is really about her awkward relationship with Alan and how Tatum continues to just kill it in his ability to play the lovable doofus he does so well.
It’s never quite Indiana Jones in terms of the scope or scale of the quest, nor does it have quite the epic nature of something like last year’s Jungle Cruise, but it does deliver on the laughs and the chemistry between the two actors. A lot of the former comes from Bullock being absolutely fearless in what she’ll do to get those laughs, spending much of the movie in a glittery and quite clinging purple jumpsuit, and throwing herself into far more physical humor than you might expect. (Clearly, working with Melissa McCarthy in the far worse buddy comedy The Heat rubbed off on her.)
That fun Bullock-Tatum team-up is surrounded by equally terrific comedic actors, including Da’Vine Joy Randolph from High Fidelity as Loretta’s publisher/agent type, and Patti Harrison (Together Together) as her hilariously inappropriate social media manager, Allison. Both of them have some really funny scenes and moments, which allows the Nee brothers to break things up by cutting away from Loretta and Alan a few times. I also generally love seeing Radcliffe playing a villain, as he did in Now You See Me 2, although he sometimes goes a bit overboard into being less a “funny villain” and more a truly despicable one, though he still has trouble really going far enough into that since he’s so likeable, in general.
The movie gets a bit wonky going into its last act, where it’s unclear what to do with all the puzzle pieces that have been introduced, but the movie also ventures into the mostpredictable places in terms of the relationship between Loretta and Alan.
The Lost City never tries to reinvent the wheel of the action-adventure rom-com as typified by Romancing the Stone, though I’m also not sure it goes far enough to be considered a future classic. It does successfully do its job at offering escapist entertainment and quite a few chuckles as to not offend those not expecting more.
Rating: 7/10
The Lost City opens nationwide on Friday, March 25 with previews on Thursday night as well as a Fandango preview on Saturday, March 19. (Tonight!)