This is about as Sandra Bullock as a Sandra Bullock rom-com gets. It’s Miss Congeniality in the vein of Two Weeks Notice, rolled into The Proposal, and set against The Mummy. The kind where you switch off your brain, give in to the cheese, swoon at the chemistry, and chortle like a teenager at the punny innuendos and sex jokes. It’s a fun resurrection of the rom-com genre without any convolution.
Attack on Tropes
The Lost City follows Loretta Sage (Bullock), a best-selling romance novelist whose stories surround a lost city she historically researched with her husband. After the death of her muse, however, Loretta becomes something of disillusioned homebody. To rouse her spirits, Loretta’s no-nonsense editor Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), cajoles her to go on tour for her latest novel. The only problem is that Alan (Channing Tatum), her novels’ fiendishly popular yet oblivious cover model, will be along for the ride. It couldn’t get worse for Loretta, and yet it somehow does. Not only does the tour open on a terrible note, she is then kidnapped by an unhinged billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who insists she help him find the real lost city’s treasure. Rustle and tussle ensue and Loretta is transplanted onto an Atlantic island where Alan journeys to save her.
Generously sprinkled with humour, hijinks and all sorts of hazards, The Lost City has got something for everyone. Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum do what they do best. She’s the awkward yet lovable female lead, and Tatum is basically every white himbo he’s ever played. The pair are thrust into a Temple Run simulation where they avoid violent henchmen and develop a seemingly textbook romance. Which isn’t to say there’s a lack of substance. Beneath Alan’s rock-hard abs, flowing blond wig, and profound ignorance, lies an earnest interior that charms even the reserved Loretta into catching feelings.
Radcliffe shines as the token antagonist, with wide-eyed fits of hysteria delivered in that British accent we know and love. Randolph is just the right amount of comic relief we need from away from the expanse of the jungle. And even Brad Pitt’s cameo (this is not a spoiler, he’s literally in the trailer) as an Indiana Jones cliché, isn’t overwhelming to the plot. The Lost City doesn’t take itself too seriously because it knows exactly what it is – a throwaway film.
“Dulcius Ex Asperis”
The Lost City is exactly the sort of generic film you’d watch over a long flight before moving on with life with no burden of recollection. What it sells is what you get, a witty rom-com, mutated with an adventure mystery, that’s bound to keep you entertained in the span of its 112 minutes. The comedy hits more than it misses, pokes fun at gender dynamics, and creates a somewhat believable treasure mystery that (thankfully) manages not to belittle any cultural group involved.
A core message of learning to move on in the wake of loss is delivered with some measure of success. The casts’ quirks and magnetism keep the film anchored, even if the plot does fall on the side of ridiculous. That’s about enough to tug on your heartstrings and maybe crack a smile or two, but leaves little to no lasting effect whatsoever. Which is about as Sandra Bullock as a Sandra Bullock rom-com can get. Even one that has her cavorting in the jungle wearing a sequined jumpsuit with just a few hairs out of place.
Take it at face value or take nothing at all.
Follow Us