Why does it always have to be snakes? Well, what says great peril more than a chamber full of the slithering reptiles? That’s how we first meet daring adventurers Dash and Lovemore, tied up on the floor in a tomb straight out of an ‘Indiana Jones’ movie. The two share barbs while menaced by a cartoonish villain and his henchman until one by one they all get deleted by author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock), tired of the cliche-ridden world she’s created. Thus begins Aaron Nee and Adam Nee’s romantic adventure “The Lost City.” Wearing its influences on its sleeve, the film doesn’t break new ground but does find a fresh spin on a tale as old as time.
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Still reeling from the death of her archaeologist husband five years earlier, Loretta reluctantly finishes her twentieth Dash and Lovemore romance novel, “The Lost City of D,” before heading on a book tour organized by her publisher Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Once an academic unable to publish her tome on Spanish colonialism in the Atlantic, Loretta spun her passion for history into gold bodice-ripping fiction but felt deep shame over the kind of work to which she’s dedicated her life. Especially when she’s stuck promoting it with the Fabio-esque cover model for Dash, the acid-wash jean blonde-wig sporting Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum).
Loretta’s real adventure begins when eccentric billionaire media scion Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), impressed by the real translations of dead language in a fake romance novel, abducts her in a mad scheme to actually locate the titular city and a treasure called the Crown of Fire. Enter ex-Navy SEAL Alan Trainer (Brad Pitt), who plans to track her using her smartwatch and extract her in twenty-four hours or less — or the next rescue is free.
All four stars play off their well-known star personas throughout all this mayhem. Bullock is neurotic, charming, and as adept at physical comedy as she was twenty years ago in “Miss Congeniality.” Channing is a big puppy dog, sweet and silly and always trying to do the right thing. Everyone fawns over Pitt’s effortless charisma the same way all the women fawn over Dash. He’s an impossible ideal writ large, somehow made real. Radcliffe has a disarming charm that belies a darker anger, a John Hammond twisted by jealousy and greed. It’s a pleasure to watch such megastars in a comedic vehicle that also has an undercurrent of genuine emotions, allowing them to show their entire range.
Loretta and Alan’s journey through the jungle owes much to “Romancing The Stone,” but with much of the classic ’80s film’s more dated gender politics graciously sanded off. A scene similar to the earlier film’s iconic waterfall scene sees the gender politics flipped as Tatum’s Alan is the one who is sexualized in the best use of his naked butt since the first “Magic Mike.” Where Michael Douglas’ Jack T. Colton was gruff and macho, Tatum’s Alan is vulnerable and sensitive. Where Kathleen Turner’s novelist Joan Wilder was a lonely old maid cliche in need of adventure, Bullock’s Loretta is just brokenhearted, adrift because the person she planned to spend her life with is gone forever. These slight tweaks of character help take the blueprints of the latter’s screwball action-adventure into a more progressive era of studio filmmaking.
Although given less screen time, both Randolph’s Beth and Pitt’s Jack are fun additions, allowing the film to have even more comic beats. Randolph channels shades of Matthew McConaughey’s harried performance as an agent willing to do anything for his client in “Tropic Thunder,” showcasing the same comic chops as her brilliant turn in “Dolemite Is My Name” a few years ago. However, an unfortunate addition of a comic pilot played by Oscar Nuñez late in the film drags on too long while trading a bit too much in stereotypes.
The action set pieces are creative, although the generic way they are shot doesn’t do justice to the psychical comedy of Bullock and Tatum, nor does the quick cutting allow the grace of Pitt’s movements while taking out scores of bad guys to really shine. Shot in the Dominican Republic, the jewel tone mountains and romantic mist are gorgeously photographed, elevating the staid action. A shout-out must be made to costume designer Marlene Stewart for Bullock’s Fuschia sequin jumpsuit, which contrasts perfectly with the jungle surrounding and should now take its place as one of the most iconic yet improbable costumes in action movie history.
As Loretta and Alan make their way out of this impossible situation, she begins not only to appreciate her own skills after years of research she put into her books but also to stop thinking of them as cheap, vapid, lady fantasies. As Alan points out to her, “why be embarrassed about something that brings happiness to so many people?” After all, love is the oldest story there is, and the greatest adventure anyone can partake in their lives.
Overstuffed at times (there are four credited screenwriters, and occasionally you can feel it), ultimately, “The Lost City” is a fun ride and a loving throwback to a certain kind of star-laden character-led adventure films Hollywood doesn’t seem to have time for anymore. Even with its rough edges, it’s refreshing to see something this big, this zany, and this open-hearted still has a place on the silver screen. [B-]
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