REVIEW: The Lost City (2022)

Movie Reviews

Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love rom-coms. I love love stories. Unfortunately, over the last ten years or so, they haven’t really been a thing. We used to have a rom-com movie release every other month back in the late 90s and early 2000s, especially, but the last decade has been dominated by superhero movies.

The rom-com seems to be trying to make its way back, though, and I am ready for it. It started with Jennifer Lopez’s Marry Me, which was released earlier this year. And now, The Lost City has made its way into theaters. The Lost City stars Sandra Bullock as archeologist-turned-romance-author Loretta Sage, who is kidnapped by a billionaire to help him find a lost treasure in an ancient city from her latest book release.

If this sounds familiar to you, you’ve probably seen the 1984 movie Romancing the Stone, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. While the two films’ plots and genres may make you stop and go, “Wait a minute, that sounds like the same movie,” that’s where their similarities end. In Romancing the Stone, Kathleen Turner’s character, Joan Wilder, is a humdrum romance author whose books are about romance, danger, and adventures she can only dream about. She is sent a map by her sister, who has been kidnapped by bad people looking for the map. They threaten to harm Wilder’s sister unless she brings them the map, and along the way, she is rescued by a handsome mercenary named Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), who agrees to help her. They figure out the map is actually a real treasure map, adventures ensue, and the two fall in love along the way.

In The Lost City, Bullock’s Loretta Sage also writes novels about romance, adventures, and danger, but in her case, she knows the ancient cities and treasures are real. Unlike Wilder, Sage has gone on trips with her late husband to search for lost cities and tombs. Her knowledge is fact-based, while Wilder’s is fantasy-driven. Sage is kidnapped because of her intellect and understanding of ancient languages; Wilder is simply thrown into a situation because of her sister. The suave, debonair man who rescues the author in distress? Weeeeelll… there are two, and… that’s a spoiler. One of our rescuers is the opposite of that, actually; he’s Alan (Channing Tatum), the male cover model for Sage’s romance novels, and while lovable, Alan is not necessarily the kind of guy you want to be helping you escape a crazed billionaire with guns in the middle of a dangerous jungle.

The two movies are just similar enough that, if you liked Romancing the Stone, you’ll like The Lost City, but different enough that The Lost City stands on its own merit. In a way, the little twists on characters and romance tropes almost (respectfully) parody Romancing the Stone instead of just taking the easy route of being a carbon copy.

I loved Romancing the Stone, and I adored this film as well. Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum are chemistry gold, and I really hope we see them together more in these kinds of movies. My favorite thing about them is how you can totally tell the infatuation Tatum’s character has with Bullock’s isn’t just fiction; he’s absolutely giddy to be working with a childhood crush of his in real life. That plays very well for their love story on the screen. They’re both hilarious, as we already know, and their comic timing works perfectly. It would not surprise me if we found out later that quite a bit of their lines were improvised. Tatum is really making his way in the film industry as he gets older; he’s come quite far since his first film, Step Up. He’s a great leading man. (Also, he’s gotten more handsome with age, but that’s a different kind of review.)

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) plays our villain in this film, Abigail Fairfax, and he blew me away. He makes a great bad guy (did not see that one coming, and if I’m being honest, it took me aback), and the comedic timing we saw from him in movie six of the Harry Potter film series really shines through in The Lost City. Watching him grow up into a well-rounded actor has been quite the treat. He plays the eccentric billionaire brilliantly, and his chemistry with both Bullock and Tatum is great as well.

The Lost City is an action-comedy with some romance thrown in it to tie it all together. The comedy is more in line with movies like Central Intelligence, but with Bullock and Tatum’s humor, and it’s very funny, save for one or two jokes that just didn’t land with me, but others in the theater loved. I don’t know anything about the directors, Aaron and Adam Nee, but I think having a fairly unknown pair behind the camera was the right choice for this film. You could tell the actors were comfortable with their style of filmmaking, and not focusing on a big name behind the camera made the movie that much more enjoyable.

Overall, The Lost City is a really cute, fun, and lighthearted adventure movie reminiscent of the good ‘ol days that will have you leaving the theater with a smile on your face.

The Lost City is in theaters now.