Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.” While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. Wanting to prove that he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her. Thrust into an epic jungle adventure, the unlikely pair will need to work together to survive the elements and find the ancient treasure before it’s lost forever.
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While Sandra Bullock has been in some good movies (While You Were Sleeping, Speed, Demolition Man), it’s been awhile since anything she’s done has really been anything a guy would really want to watch. But, the premise for The Lost City looked like it could be funny (especially with the rather vacuous Channing Tatum acting as a vacuous male model). So I figured I’d give it a shot. Would this be another film everyone could enjoy, or just another chick flick in disguise?
Sandra Bullock has made some dud rom-coms (Hope Floates, All About Steve, etc.) in the past, but she seems to have some of her spark back in The Lost City, and her and Channing Tatum do a surprisingly good job together. Channing Tatum provides much of the comic relief of the film, and plays on the vacuous persona he’s garnered for himself over the years. Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, goes against type-casting as a villain, and while he’s not exactly convincing as a bad guy, he’s a goofy enough choice to actually work in this film. And Brad Pitt (as per usual when he plays a bit part), very nearly steals the movie, despite only being in a few scenes.
The plot of The Lost City seems rather familiar, since it seems to rely a lot on a classic 80’s rom-com, Romancing the Stone. While they amp up the comedy by making the story about the writer and her cover model (instead of the writer and her guide), there are enough similar elements to make the film seem pretty familiar. Still, the change-up is enough to provide more laughs, which is exactly what this film is aiming for.
If you go into The Lost City thinking you’re going to be experiencing some new grand adventure flick, you are going to be sorely mistaken. If, however, you’re looking for an updated Romancing the Stone, but with more laughs, then this film is for you. There’s enough adventure and laughs in this rom-com to keep everyone entertained – even if the film feels a little vapid and familiar.
