I keep staring blankly at this Word doc, and I can’t come up with anything better than saying The Lost City is worse than the best versions of this movie (Romancing the Stone) and better than the mediocre versions of this movie (Snatched). It’s definitely closer to the mediocre than the great though.
It’s a sweaty premise for a movie. Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a famous romance novelist who lost her spark after her husband died five years ago. Alan (Channing Tatum) is the famous cover model for all her books, who embraces that job fully. While on a book tour, Loretta is kidnapped by a billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) because she is the only person who can solve an ancient puzzle that leads to an ancient treasure. You see, Loretta began as an archeologist and academic with her husband and used that knowledge for her romance adventure books. Alan chases after Loretta despite being very ill-equipped, and zaniness ensues…It’s a dumb plot. It just is. No one involved is pretending otherwise. This a movie that really relies on the other elements than writing to prop it up.
I like the pairing of Bullock and Tatum. The age difference is less distracting than I would’ve thought. Bullock has always looked young. Tatum now in his 40s finally has enough lines to not look like a giant kid. I enjoy the pairing of an academic and a himbo. It plays to each of their strengths. I wish each character would’ve been fleshed out a little more though. I have little sense of how much of Bullock’s personality is the result of her husband’s death as opposed to something that’s always been part of her. The movie also likes Tatum far too early. I never got to be surprised that Bullock would eventually fall for him, because, other than being a little stupid, there was never much wrong with him. The movie is also afraid to admit that either of them are just excited for an adventure. I’m still confused why so much of this had to be against Bullock’s will. Like, how much would it change things if as soon as she arrived on the island, she fully embraced it but realized Radcliffe’s intentions were wrong?
I wish I had a better sense of how seriously this was trying to be an adventure movie. As a comedy-first movie, it’s missing a lot of flavoring. They don’t hit on the humor as hard as I’d like. Even the shock humor is couched in an amount of realism that steps on the punchlines (Brad Pitt: that’s all I’ll say about that). There’s a subplot of Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Bullock’s publisher trying to track Bullock down. I kept wanting it to be Matthew McConaughey in Tropic Thunder with the Tivo, stealing scenes. Those moments were fun, but not entertaining enough to make me glad they pulled away from the A-story. As an adventure movie, this is very hollow. There are many sets that look like sets. There’s nothing that says just because this is a comedy movie doesn’t mean we can’t go all out with the adventure.
I think back to the movies of this ilk that work, and it’s normally the characters and the direction that make them work. Romancing the Stone has Zemeckis directing, so whenever a proper action set piece is needed, he can deliver with something better than the movie needs. On the other end of it, Tropic Thunder works because the characters start off as so exaggerated. They eventually get the needed shading, but early on, they are joke machines for all the appearances they are putting on. The Lost City has trouble striking any balance. The Bullock/Tatum chemistry eventually got where it needed to, but they don’t start with an opposites attract setup that works. Two people who hate each other is great. One person who hates another person who they need is great. But, two people, both incompetent for this, one dislikes the other, the other likes the one. That’s doesn’t work. It just ends up being Bullock being mean to Tatum for very little reason while he happily takes it. I wanted more spark. I wanted more to laugh at. I wanted more adventure that made me pay attention. I got enough of each to keep this movie watchable – mostly enjoyable even – but not enough to really be a pleasure to watch.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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