Movie Review: THE LOST CITY Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe

The latest rom-com adventure, The Lost City, is out exclusively in theaters this weekend.

The film, directed by Aaron Nee and Adam Nee, sees Bullock’s Loretta, a romance novelist on a book tour with her sought-after cover model Alan (played by Tatum), who ends up getting kidnapped and finds herself in a wild jungle adventure. However, what Loretta writes is fiction, with her idea of adventure maxing out at taking a bubble bath with iced chardonnay. Cover model Alan is also nothing like the adventurous “Dash” written about in the novels, being much softer and more reserved than his literary counterpart. But, the two find themselves in an actual adventure like their characters, searching for the real ‘Lost City’ Loretta had written about.

The supporting cast sees Daniel Radcliffe as millionaire villain Abigail Fairfax, the mastermind behind the kidnapping. We also see the tactical soldier Jack Trainer, played by Brad Pitt, the dedicated publicist Beth, played by Da’vine Joy Randolph, and Oscar Nunez playing yet another odd character named Oscar – who’s companion is a goat. While the casting was great, Radcliffe and Randolph’s characters seemed extremely boring. They weren’t well written, the acting was annoying, and the laughs their characters were supposed to deliver were non-existent. Pitt’s character was enjoyable, if only a supporting cast member – his Jack Trainer is initially sent in to rescue the kidnapped author; think Rambo but more humorous and on steroids.

The film had its enjoyable moments, but I was expecting more. I’ve seen Bullock and Tatum shine and deliver in comedies before, but this didn’t seem funny. The acting wasn’t great, the writing was poor, and the story wasn’t original. Rom-com adventures should deliver equal parts comedy between the romantic leads as well as a fun adventure that the viewer invests in. I don’t know if it’s because I found myself annoyed with both leads, or the so-called adventure that was just them walking through the jungle bantering with unwitty dialogue back and forth, but I felt extremely underwhelmed. I felt myself chuckling at bits and pieces, however, the moments of laughter are harshly incomparable to the moments of boredom.

If there is a positive to be said, there is some legitimate chemistry on screen between Tatum and Bullock. I never would have guessed that pairing the duo together would have provided a believable partnership, romantically or otherwise, but it did seem to mesh.

I’m glad we are seeing the increase in movies returning exclusively to theaters, but maybe wait for this one to hit On Demand.

C-