The Lost City (Sandra Bullock, 2022)
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum share both star power and chemistry in The Lost City, an engaging romantic comedy drama that just popped up on Netflix in Europe.
A lot has been said about the Death of the Movie Star, with marquee characters like Spider-Man or even Barbie replacing big name actors as the main draw for successful movies.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, like Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio, but there are not a lot of young actors who can open a movie based on their name alone.
Now in her late fifties, Sandra Bullock is also one of the old guard, and yes, like the male stars I mentioned, she is still a bonafide movie star, who can propel a solid studio programmer like The Lost City into a hit movie.
With some help, of course, from co-stars Channing Tatum (Magic Mike), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter himself), and, in a small but very funny supporting role, Brad Pitt.
The Lost City is basically a riff on Romancing The Stone (1984), in which Kathleen Turner played a romance novelist who travels to Colombia to save her kidnapped sister, but soon found herself treasure hunting in the company of attractive scoundrel Michael Douglas.
Fortunately, The Lost City (based on a story by Seth Gordon, with a screenplay by Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, and directed by brothers Adam and Aaron New, who also co-wrote the script) is just different enough from said movie to qualify as an original piece of work.
In this handsome looking movie, which takes in various exotic locales, Bullock plays Loretta Sage, who also just happens to be a romance novelist. After a book signing with her cover model Alan (Tatum) she is suddenly kidnapped by madcap billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe) who expects her to take him to a lost city's ancient treasure, which she wrote about in her most recent book.
So Alan sets off to rescue her and prove to Loretta that he is not just some handsome hunk, but a real life hero as well.
It’s a serviceable set-up that gives Bullock (who, in her purple sequin dress, is at one point described as ‘an exploded disco ball’) plenty of opportunity to show off both her charm and her comedic timing, in a series of verbal jokes, sight gags and some pratfalls to boot. Tatum is also very good as, well, an attractive cover model who is desperate to prove that he is much, much more than that.
Radcliffe nails Abigail as an eccentric villain, who has his own personal issues to deal with, while Pitt makes a lasting impression in the short time he’s given as a security expert who can transform himself into a one-man army.
While watching The Lost City I couldn’t help but feel that Hollywood should make more movies like this, not just to keep stars like Bullock or Julia Roberts (whose recent romcom Ticket to Paradise with George Clooney comes to mind) occupied, but also as a way to keep older audiences interested in going to the movies, or at least seeing them on streaming (I plead guilty, in this case, mea maxima culpa).
No one will mistake The Lost City for a masterpiece but the movie is entertaining from start to finish, and sometimes that’s all you need.