Movie Review: 'The Lost City' is So Much Fun
Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe are having a ball in the new comedy The Lost City.
The Lost City is the movie I needed right now. This delightful comedy about an author struggling with her place in the world and getting pushed back into the world following the death of her husband, several years earlier, finds just the right mix of fun and lovable characters. The scene stealer though is Channing Tatum whose comedy chops have never been put to better use. If you loved his work in 21 and 22 Jumpstreet, then The Lost City is a must see.
The Lost City kicks off with author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) at her computer and struggling with writer’s block. She’s supposed to be writing her latest sexy romance novel about a freewheeling archaeologist named Amanda and her sexy lover, Dash (Channing Tatum), escaping a precarious situation straight out of a gender-flipped Indiana Jones movie. What she’d prefer to be doing is sitting in a bath with a bottle of white wine.
More annoyingly, her best friend and publisher, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), is pushing her to finish the book and start a book tour. The book tour will include Loretta and her cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), a preening pretty boy who seems to get as much credit for each book as Loretta does thanks to his open shirt, muscles and flowing blonde hair on the cover of all of Loretta’s books.
The story of The Lost City kicks in when Loretta finally slaps the ending on the book and goes on her book tour. The tour is an immediate disaster. Everyone hates the book and Loretta accidentally ends up assaulting Alan during a public appearance. This doesn’t stop Alan from coming close to admitting that he’s falling for Loretta despite her complete indifference to him. Good hearted Alan just wants to see her smile again.
Immediately after this disaster, Loretta finds herself kidnapped by billionaire playboy Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). Fairfax is convinced that Loretta’s book is real and that she is the key to finding the actual treasure of the lost city. Loretta does base her books on real legends, ones her late husband used to research and publish about, so there is an inkling of truth here. However, Loretta has absolutely no interest in helping Fairfax tear up an archaeological site to go treasure hunting. Thus why she’s kidnapped.
Somehow, Alan gets it in his head that he can save Loretta and in doing so, he can prove his love for her. With Beth’s help, Alan hires a mercenary to sneak him to where Loretta is being held, she has a GPS tracker on her for plot reasons, and the rescue mission is launched. I will stop my plot description here, it’s already a bit long, but this is barely out of the first act so there is still plenty to experience and enjoy about The Lost City.
As I mentioned before, Channing Tatum steals the whole movie. His naive, innocent, thoughtful Alan is hilarious every time he opens his mouth. Tatum is a gifted physical comedian capable of earning laughs with a good line inflection, a head tilt, or a pratfall. He’s also just a sweet puppy dog of a man with the physical presence of Channing Tatum which makes him so incredibly, oddly endearing.
This is not to take anything away from Sandra Bullock who is also quite good in The Lost City. Bullock’s role is the straight man for most of the movie, she’s forced to be reactive and at times shrill. Eventually, though, Bullock settles in and starts getting a few scenes that are loose and fun and in the final act, as the adventure is in full swing, Bullock has her best moments and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
And rounding out the main cast, Daniel Radcliffe shines in his first proper villain role. Leaning into his spoiled rich kid character, Radcliffe appears to be having a lot of fun and his energy pours out of the screen. He even manages a little touch of menace late in the film that helps build a little tension into the final act. He may not be the most natural villainous actor, but because Radcliffe is enjoying the role so much, you can’t help but enjoy it just as much.
I don’t know if I buy into the romantic chemistry of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum but it works well enough amid the comic adventure of The Lost City. The movie kind of forces the romantic element but it’s nothing that does harm to the overall fun of The Lost City. The bottom line is that the movie is very funny and the writing and direction always go for the best joke available rather than focusing on building the romantic plot which is a very good choice overall.
The Lost City is just a movie I really needed at the moment. Amid the hype and hustle of the movie awards season and the serious minded films populating the culture of awards season, a silly little adventure movie like The Lost City really hits the spot. Turn off your brain, sit back and enjoy the silliness, the goofy attempts at romance, and the grand sense of fun in The Lost City. The Lost City opened in theaters nationwide on March 27th, 2022.
About the Creator
Sean Patrick
Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.
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