Take, for example, The Lost City<\/em>, a new action\/comedy from directors Aaron and Adam Nee. It\u2019s a nakedly transparent riff on Zemeckis\u2019s 1984 smash Romancing the Stone<\/em>, a story of a repressed romance novelist who ends up, against her better judgment, living out the kind of jungle adventure she writes about in her books. The only real change of substance here is that our heroine is herself kidnapped (rather than seeking out her sister, as in Stone<\/em>), and her partner on the journey is the Fabio-esque cover model for her novels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plot is absolute nonsense, as it should be. Feeling burnt-out and over, still mourning the death of her husband five years previous, Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has just written what she hopes will be the last of her \u201cAngela Lovemore\u201d novels, and is about to depart on a book tour with deliciously dumb beefcake Alan (Channing Tatum). But before she wrote these cheeseball romances, Loretta was a serious historian, and some of that background in the new novel catches the eye of billionaire Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, hamming it up gloriously). He wants her to use her translation skills to help him find the location of an ancient ruler\u2019s tomb \u2013 and the priceless headdress within it \u2013 on a remote island in the Atlantic. She declines, and he\u2019s not used to hearing no, so out comes the chloroform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alan goes to save her, with the help of a grizzled mercenary, played by Brad Pitt in a deliciously funny cameo. But once they break her out, the expert gets the Other Guys<\/em> treatment, leaving these two absolutely hopeless, absolutely helpless people stranded in the middle of the jungle. Will they make it out alive? You can probably guess. Will they fall in love in the process? You can also probably guess. The name of the game here is not narrative suspense \u2013 it\u2019s style and chemistry, how much fun we\u2019ll have watching these good-looking movie stars follow their predetermined paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both actors come to play. Tatum, who has always displayed a delightful sense of self-awareness, is doing some of the best himbo work of his life here. Bullock is Bullock, which is to say delightful \u2013 her comic timing is so sharp that even the clunker lines (and there are quite a few) land with a bang. They find an easy comic rhythm, mixing his doofiness and her exasperation, which works \u2013 the best of their back-and-forths is a very funny, very frantic conversation about the nuances of mansplaining (\u201cI\u2019m a woman, I can\u2019t \u2018mansplain\u2019!\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a feminist, I believe women can do anything\u201d). And their romantic chemistry lights up when it needs to; the filmmakers thankfully dodge the tired notion that glasses and messy hair somehow makes their leading lady temporarily unattractive, and they also don\u2019t pretend that it\u2019s somehow odd for Tatum (16 years her junior) to have the hots for her. They know, as we do, that she looks like Sandra Bullock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nee brothers, who directed the winning, weird, and very funny Tom-and-Huck update Band of Robbers<\/em> a few years back, take this material exactly as seriously as they should; when Radcliffe announces \u201cWelcome to the lost city!\u201d and the angel choir swells, well, they know what they\u2019re doing in a moment like that. But they also prove themselves capable directors of action \u2013 Pitt\u2019s big rescue sequence is both thrilling and funny, and not a lot of filmmakers can pull that mix off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a full 120 minutes, The Lost City <\/em>is more than a little flabby \u2013 it\u2019s a joy to see Da\u2019Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nu\u00f1ez, and Patti Harrison in supporting roles, but their scenes often feel like marking time \u2013 and the execution is occasionally clumsy (it feels like there are a lot<\/em> of added-with-ADR jokes). The filmmakers come from the micro-budget world, and wear their nervousness about selling out on their sleeves; in a key dialogue scene, Alan explains how he was initially embarrassed by the fluff they make, before meeting an enthusiastic fan and asking himself, \u201cHow could I be this embarrassed by something that makes people happy?\u201d It comes off not like a character beat, but like a film mounting a little tiny defense of itself, and of popular entertainment of its ilk, veering dangerously close to \u201clet people enjoy things\u201d territory. But it is<\/em> enjoyable, very light and very charming, and since it\u2019s not a remake (officially), not a sequel, not a reboot, and not an adaptation, it is by default the kind of movie we keep saying they don\u2019t make anymore. So I\u2019m fine with celebrating it, flaws and all. “The Lost City” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lost-city2-1024x608.jpg\")
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