The premise for The Lost City is a bit ridiculous, a romance writer who has a past in archeology is kidnapped and her cover model flies across the world to save her. The film, led by Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum on the surface is this weird mix of comedy, action, and almost slapstick that somehow works well enough to keep the audience entertained. Sure, there is a scene with Channing Tatum’s butt on full display and a lot of adult humor throughout the film. But this movie is the laugh that so many of us have been missing in theaters lately.
But this movie has this weird combination of elements that made us think back to some of the other films that Bullock and her cast have been in before. Bullock plays Loretta Sage, a heartbroken romance writer who is bitter and angry at the world. She doesn’t realize her own appeal or beauty but slowly comes into it through the movie. There’s no doubting that Bullock is gorgeous, and she plays this role well, but it had a bit of the toughness to show stopper that she had in her Miss Congeniality roles. Her character, also, is stuck in a sequined jumper for the majority of the film making her the glittering gem and attention in more than one way. She plays this role well, there’s no question. And since she wrote the script, it seems she wrote this perfectly for herself.
On the flip of that, Channing Tatum plays the muscle-bound hunk – but this time he’s not as tough as he looks. Yes, audiences will enjoy the scene where his butt is on full display – but it’s not the first time it’s been on display. It’s also hard to believe that he’s unable to fight, or throw a punch when the time is right.
And Daniel Radcliffe as the bad guy? This actually isn’t that shocking. Radcliffe continues to choose different and weird roles, because honestly with his career and past he can choose any role he wants. His playing a rich and egomaniacal bad guy who’s on the path to find a priceless jewel is well done and over the top. But it’s no less over the top than his “drunken” scene in Harry Potter after he takes the luck potion. It’s a change of pace from the roles we’re used to seeing him in, but with his upcoming choice to play Weird Al, I think this may be the first of many different faces of Radcliffe.
The Lost City isn’t a deep movie, there’s no denying that. It’s simply a movie that will leave you laughing and shaking your head at the bad jokes throughout it – seriously, the amount of dick jokes is almost absurd. But not every movie has to be a great work of art to make it enjoyable. Simply put, The Lost City is entertaining and a good movie to leave the real world behind and to watch some ridiculous antics play out on the screen. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and viewers shouldn’t either, and probably the type of light hearted movie we all need right now.
The Lost City is now in theaters.
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About The Lost City:
Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Channing 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 (Daniel 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.