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Plot Summary: A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.

Directors: Aaron Nee, Adam Nee

Writers: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Ne

Runtime: 1 hour 52 mins

• Sandra Bullock as Loretta / Angela
• Channing Tatus as Alan / Dash
• Daniel Radcliffe as Abigail Fairfax
• Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Beth Hatten
• Brad Pitt as Jack Trainer
• Bowen Yang as Ray the Moderator

Review by: Small Couch Reviews

You know how there are certain movies you watch that you know aren’t masterpieces, or aren’t even particularly great, but you still have a good time with them? That’s the Lost City. It is not a perfect movie by any measure, but I had a great time watching it.

What We Liked:

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters first and foremost. Sandra Bullock plays an archaeologist turned romance novelist who is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe) who wants to use her archaeological expertise to find a lost treasure. The cover model for her novels (portrayed by Channing Tatum) then sets out to rescue her…it’s ridiculous! But that’s the fun of it. Bullock’s character doesn’t actually like the books she writes- she thinks they’re trash but they pay the bills. Tatum on the other hand loves the books and his job as her cover model.

That leads to Sandra Bullock being the only one who seems to really understand just how insane this kidnapping and rescue are. Watching her seriousness combined with Tatum’s goofiness is cinematic gold. They have some amazing chemistry that leads to actual laugh-out-loud moments. Yet, there’s also a lot of heart here. The story follows predictable romantic comedy plotlines in terms of character arcs and development, something with Bullock and Tatum just felt genuine.

I also have to discuss Radcliffe’s villain, because he is fantastic. This dude is someone pulled straight out of an Uncharted or Farcry video game and I loved every second of it. He does a fabulous job portraying this man who is simultaneously larger than life with his obscene wealth yet also incredibly immature as he seeks this treasure for the most ridiculous of reasons.

Outside of the characters, I enjoyed the general direction of the film. It is directed by Adam and Aaron Nee who kept me laughing and entertained for its entire runtime- a runtime that didn’t really go that long (not common these days). Honestly, the movie just does its job and does it well. There aren’t any cringe-worthy moments, jokes that fall flat, or stale dialogue. It’s not perfect, but this is a movie that I enjoyed, and it’s one of those movies that gives you a good feeling so you aren’t in the mood to sully it by pointing out its logical or technical flaws.

What We Didn’t Like:

So, this is a movie you have to somewhat turn your brain off to sit through. It’s not as egregious as a movie in the Fast and Furious franchise but there are definitely some logical leaps it makes off-screen and a few technical leaps made in editing. Admittedly, some of there were pretty hard to ignore.

What you must remember though, is that this is a rom-com so it’s not going for hyper-realism and believability; the issue with a rom-com would be if it told a boring story or if it had bad leads/bad acting. None of those problems are really present in the Lost City, so if you can manage to hang on for the inevitable illogical jumps then you’ll be fine with it.

If there were aspects I had to choose that did not sit that well, one would be the surprise cameo that I wish lasted a bit longer (kind of felt a bit shoe-horned in). Also, the publisher character (portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph) took up some screen time without really doing anything of substance.