The Lost City Thrives Off The Charismatic Presence And Star Power Of Its Main Cast

      When looking at the current cinematic landscape of films, it feels like romantic comedies have become more of a rare commodity at the box office compared to when they were a norm in Hollywood. Looking at the strength of romantic comedies, the key elements that often made them successful are the appeal of its main leads, as well as its concept. With The Lost City, the film provides a clever catch for audiences with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum as its main leads, along with a comedy adventure plot which pays homage to 1980's treasure hunting gems such as Romancing The Stone. While not quite as memorable as the films it draws inspiration from, The Lost City is made a fun and lighthearted adventure by it's stars chemistry as well as its heart. 

   

      The Lost City's plot centers around a popular romance writer (Sandra Bullock) being kidnapped and taken to a remote island, where a wealthy businessman (Daniel Radcliffe) forces her to help him find the treasure she wrote about in her previous book. Upon learning of the kidnapping, the books cover model (Channing Tatum) rushes to save her. The Lost City's story works as being a clever throwback to the classic treasure caper films that inspired it, while serving as a strong vehicle for Bullock and Tatum to deliver some decent screwball comedy. Despite the story not being the most original and coming across as appearing a bit formulaic, The Lost City provides enough laughs and a refreshing throwback to old school rom-coms that make it a pleasantly surprising lighthearted adventure.

      Much of the reason the film works so well is due to the effort that the main cast put into making it work as being an effectively charming romantic comedy. Bullock brings humor and heart to her role as frustrated and depressed best-selling novelist Loretta Sage, with her delivering slapstick comedy. Tatum proves to be an ideal fit for playing Loretta's dimwitted cover model Dash McMahon. Both work exceptionally well together with them possessing enough palpable chemistry to make the story fun while remaining consistent. Daniel Radcliffe surprises as the films slimy villain Abigail Fairfax, an eccentric billionaire and international criminal who kidnaps Loretta in order to find the lost city. Other scene-stealing performances include Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Loretta's publicist and loyal friend Beth Hatten, Brad Pitt in a glorified cameo as human tracker and action hero Jack Trainer, Patti Harrison as Loretta's social media manager Allison, and Oscar Nunez as eccentric cargo plane pilot, Oscar. Overall, The Lost City's cast not only appears to be having a blast with playing their roles, but help give the story a feel good atmosphere, along with a fine level of energy that makes it genuinely entertaining to watch.

      Although The Lost City's directing is standard for the genre, brothers Adam and Aaron Nee give the film a crisp look with the cinematography capturing all the films exotic locations shown throughout the story. The editing keeps things moving at a fast pace which carries a rhythm of the main characters delivering a humorous scene that's followed by another one involving action. With the amount of humor the film boasts, there isn't a shortage of action scenes with them being filmed in a style that makes them appear over-the-top and goofy in tone. The costume design for Bullock's character is striking with her being dressed in a sparkly pink jumpsuit along with wearing high-heels throughout the films action sequences that includes her character rock climbing, climbing through leech-infested rivers and wading through vegetation. As far as tone goes, the Nee brothers give the story a jokey feel which gives audiences the impression that things will always remain light-hearted regardless of the actions intensity.

 

      When it comes to writing, The Lost City bears numerous vibes to Romancing The Stone with the script carefully spacing out the amusing banter between the main leads. Right off the bat, the film opens with a humorous bit which includes both leads acting out a scene from Bullock's characters novel involving snakes. Whereas the moment is presented as being silly, it sets up the films tone as being extremely goofy. The screenplay combines elements including treasure hunting, adventure, comedy, and romance despite its plot often leaning on formulaic structures from other rom-coms. Bullock's character is written as being a self-loathing romance author, whose hesitant to find love again after her husbands death with Tatum's character being her hunky yet clueless cover model whose devoted to rescuing her. Their relationship is one that develops naturally without it feeling forced or overly cliched. Some of the scripts more clever elements include both Tatum and Pitt playing into their sex-symbol images with their characters being meant to represent the "ideal man," with their insecurities shining through in hilarious fashion. Other noteworthy aspects of the script include strong side characters like Loretta's publisher Beth, who rather than end up being the traditional best friend of the main character, ends up possessing more depth with her character willing to go to extreme lengths to rescue her friends. Abigail's character however, comes across as being a petulant baddie whose commonly found in any typical treasure hunting adventure story. Despite the screenplay lacking a bit of originality, it carries enough positive elements to make it more than serviceable.

      With romantic comedies becoming more of a rare occurrence theatrically, The Lost City being surprisingly decent is significant with its success being largely attributed to the main stars winning chemistry along with the films catchy premise. Not all of the jokes land however and certain subplots are established with little to no payoff at the end (The eccentric cargo pilot falling for Beth feels awkwardly thrown in). Despite those minor faults, there's enough fun twists given (Brad Pitt's character for example) with a heartfelt message saying that life can be better after difficult times, which ultimately makes the overall experience of watching The Lost City a rewarding one.

Final Verdict: For those looking for a solid rom-com, The Lost City is worth the wait.

Images Courtesy Of Paramount Pictures