Minutes after seeing the premiere of The Lost City, while watching the ACC Championship game, a TV spot for the movie played. As I’m writing this review, a giant flat-screen keeps showing the poster on a loop. Perhaps I was just inundated with advertising and emails about this Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum team-up, but this struck a chord with me: the advertising campaign makes more of an impact than the product it’s advertising, unfortunately.
That’s not to say the movie is without merit or doesn’t give a reason to watch it. That’s hardly the case. The latter half of the first act is a very fun time, setting a perfect tone of silliness and absurdity. It is ridiculous camp, reminiscent of making YouTube videos with friends in high school but on a Hollywood budget. Just making this A-list trio (which includes Brad Pitt) run for their lives through the jungle hits a perfect note, making a conscious effort to subvert their fame.
It’s just a shame that the magic falls away soon after a crucial plot point. From that point on, it mostly seems in-search for individual laughs. Moments like Tatum saying that as a feminist, he believes women can do anything, including “mansplaining” work exceedingly well, as does Oscar Nunez (from The Office) having a nice, absurd role that steals every scene he’s in. But scenes themselves never seem to hold any momentum.
Tatum does some solid work as a bumbling, uncoordinated model in love with Bullock’s paperback romance writer. With so much riding on their chemistry, it’s a shame there’s not much given to help carry them to the finish beyond old-hat, situational romantic comedy tropes even if its ending somehow sticks the landing after two-thirds of the routine was stumbling.
