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The Lost City

2022, Romance/Comedy, 1h 52m

What to know

Critics Consensus

The Lost City doesn't sparkle quite as brightly as some classic treasure-hunting capers, but its stars' screwball chemistry make this movie well worth romancing. Read critic reviews

Audience Says

With lots of laughs and some likable stars, The Lost City is a fun, lighthearted adventure that passes the time painlessly. Read audience reviews

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Where to watch the lost city.

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The lost city videos, the lost city   photos.

Reclusive author Loretta Sage writes about exotic places in her popular adventure novels that feature a handsome cover model named Alan. While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta gets kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire who hopes she can lead him to an ancient city's lost treasure from her latest story. Determined to prove he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her.

Rating: PG-13 (Partial Nudity|Language|Some Bloody Images|Suggestive Material|Violence)

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Adventure, Action

Original Language: English

Director: Adam Nee , Aaron Nee

Producer: Liza Chasin , Sandra Bullock , Seth Gordon

Writer: Oren Uziel , Dana Fox , Adam Nee , Aaron Nee

Release Date (Theaters): Mar 25, 2022  wide

Release Date (Streaming): May 10, 2022

Box Office (Gross USA): $104.9M

Runtime: 1h 52m

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Production Co: Fortis Films, Exhibit A Pictures, 3dot productions

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Sandra Bullock

Loretta, Angela

Channing Tatum

Daniel Radcliffe

Abigail Fairfax

Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Beth Hatten

Oscar Nunez

Patti Harrison

Ray the Moderator

Jack Trainer

Screenwriter

Liza Chasin

Seth Gordon

Jonathan Hook

Executive Producer

Margaret Chernin

Jonathan Sela

Cinematographer

Craig Alpert

Film Editing

Pinar Toprak

Original Music

Jim Bissell

Production Design

María Fernanda Muñoz

Art Director

Karen Frick

Set Decoration

Marlene Stewart

Costume Design

News & Interviews for The Lost City

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Weekend Box Office Results: The Lost City Scores Promising Debut

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Critic Reviews for The Lost City

Audience reviews for the lost city.

It's a new spin on Romancing the Stone and as long as the leads are charming and the movie is fun, I have no problem with rehashing this formula. The Lost City mostly succeeds thanks to the winning chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. She plays a self-loathing romance author and he's her hunky and clueless cover model, and they both get into a treasure-hunting escapade and chased by scary men with guns thanks to a crazed rich kid (Daniel Radcliffe) looking for a titular lost city of yore to bolster his own rep. The movie stays on a consistently light wavelength even when death and sudden violence occurs. That jokey mentality assures the audience that the movie will not take things too seriously, and that relaxed-yet-antic attitude translates into fairly amusing banter with our leads. The movie does a good job of spacing out its comic set pieces and keeping things moving for its short 90 minutes. Not everything works as well as the leads though. Some storylines feel underplayed or forgotten until called upon for moments that don't feel earned. Radcliffe feels wasted as a petulant baddie without any fun or memorable angle. One of the best aspects is what happens to the movie's surprise cameo (spoiled via the movie's own trailer) but the ending resolution of this feels entirely pointless and undercuts its nerve. It's a movie that delivers exactly the kind of experience it advertises, and it's nice to still be able to see a comedy in theaters lifted by the appeal of two stars having a ball together. The Lost City is a formula rom-com with enough good-natured screwball comedy and enjoyable zaniness to coasts on charm and star power. Nate's Grade: B

Mainstream comedies that actually make it to theatres are slim to none these days. I remember a time when there was possibly a big comedy coming out every one or two months, with at least half of them being good, but in today's climate, humour is just tough to get right. I was very happy to see that Paramount would be taking a chance and releasing a big comedy in The Lost City this year, but I truly didn't know to what to expect from it. After seeing it in theatres, I'm happy to say that I had a good time with it. It's not great, but it felt like a throwback comedy, just with a modern twist.  To put it simply, The Lost City follows Loretta (Sandra Bullock) as she's on a book tour with her cover model Alan (Channing Tatum) to promote the release of "The Lost City of D," but they are swept up in a kidnapping and find themselves on a real adventure in the jungle. Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) is the reason Loretta was kidnapped in the first place, as he sees many similarities in her book to that of a real lost city. Being the privileged twerp that he is makes for a fun villainous storyline, even if it's pretty lame at times. Radcliffe aside (whom I still enjoyed), this film puts all of its weight on Tatum and Bullock to deliver the goods.  This premise is clever enough to work as a film, but it all comes down to who you cast and if they can make the material work. I never thought I needed to see this duo together, but I'm very happy they worked so well. On top of that, I have to admit that the best moments in the film feature Brad Pitt's character Jack Trainer. He isn't in the film much, but every second he was on screen had me laughing. Where I found the film to be slightly uneven though, was in the fact that I wasn't sure if it wanted to be funny or dramatic at times.  I'm all for heartfelt storylines as well as comedy, but I would argue that the majority of the humour is in the first half, while the second half gets a little more sentimental. These both worked in the movie, but the way the film begins gives absolutely no foreshadowing as to what the film will become by the end. I found that odd, but again, the cast sold all of the dialogue for me. From a few hilarious moments to some fun adventure/action throughout, as I said, I had a good time with this one.  In the end, The Lost City is exactly what I think moviegoers need right now. Nothing too serious or weighed down by heavy drama. This is a good old-fashioned, silly comedy/romance that I feel works for what it is. It's not going to be the type of comedy that a lot of people are going to watch over and over again, at least I don't think, but the heart of the film is in the right place and it never takes anything too seriously. Now playing in theatres, I'd give a recommendation to The Lost City.

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The Lost City review – Bullock and Tatum bring welcome silliness

Tongues are firmly in cheeks in this amiable adventure-comedy which sees game performances and quality cameos deliver the laughs

T here are some nice lines, game performances, midrange CGI and a worryingly unfunny credits sting in this otherwise likable adventure-comedy in the tradition of Romancing the Stone. Sandra Bullock plays Loretta, the author of a novel franchise-series about a Lara-Croft-type badass discovering exciting secrets in far-flung places with her lover Dash. But Loretta has to live with the fact that her books are bestsellers because of the hunky male model, Alan (Channing Tatum) who always appears on the front covers “playing” Dash – and this temperamental, over-moisturised gym bunny now gets to appear on stage with Loretta on her book tours, preening and pouting like Magic Mike for the simpering fanbase. But when an evil bearded British billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) kidnaps Loretta and takes her to a mysterious island because he is convinced she can tell him about ancient treasure there, silly Alan has to toughen up and be the swashbuckling hero he dreams of being, by rescuing her.

There are some amusing touches and quality cameos, including one from Brad Pitt as the (genuine) tough guy that they initially hire to find Loretta. Bullock duly has a stunned piece of dialogue with him: “Why are you so handsome?” “My dad was a weatherman.” There is also Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Loretta’s manager Beth, who has her own adventure getting to the island to ensure her client is safe.

This is all amiable enough, with the all-important dimension of laughs: Tatum and Bullock showing that they are smart enough to know how silly it is, and that they know that we know that they know. There is also a very bizarre scene, apparently inspired by The African Queen, in which Bullock has to pluck blood-sucking slugs from Tatum’s rock-hard buttocks and is then reduced to gibbering inarticulacy at the sight of his penis. I don’t remember Katharine Hepburn doing this with Humphrey Bogart.

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• Channing Tatum
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Sandra bullock and channing tatum in ‘the lost city’: film review | sxsw 2022.

The stars share the screen with Brad Pitt in a 'Romancing the Stone'-inspired comedy-adventure directed by Adam and Aaron Nee.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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A Romancing the Stone -like adventure featuring a more unlikely pair of lovers-to-be than Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, Aaron and Adam Nee’s The Lost City follows a romance novelist ( Sandra Bullock ) as she’s caught up in a plot every bit as loony as those she has grown tired of inventing for her fans.

While it’s no longer surprising to see the sensitive and funny sides of costar Channing Tatum , his hunky character’s puppy-like devotion to Bullock’s dismissive damsel in distress serves the pic quite well, enlivening action that (after a winningly over-the-top kickoff) might otherwise grow too generic. A vastly bigger undertaking than The Last Romantic , the microbudget debut the directors brought to SXSW in 2006, it’s a thoroughly commercial film despite feeling only a little bit more of-the-moment than its 1984 inspiration.

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Release date: March 25 (Paramount Pictures) Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Headliners) Cast: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nuñez, Patti Harrison, Bowen Yang Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee Screenwriters: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee, Aaron Nee

Five years after the death of her husband, Bullock’s Loretta mourns him mainly by refusing to finish her much-anticipated new novel. She hates writing this stuff, which is a cheap exploitation of the serious history- and archaeology-based work she started her career with. But it’s the backbone of the publishing house run by Beth Hatten (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), so Loretta finishes the book (promising herself it will be her last), grits her teeth and begins the tour to promote it.

You’d hate doing a promotional tour too, if fans only really showed up for a glimpse of the model whose torso graces all your book jackets. (Wearing a flowing blonde wig and an easily removed shirt, Tatum’s Dash takes the stage with boisterous showmanship not seen since Gob’s magic act on Arrested Development .) Loretta makes a mess of this event and exits as quickly as possible, whereupon she is promptly abducted.

It turns out that billionaire archaeology enthusiast Abigail Fairfax (a smartly cast Daniel Radcliffe ), the scion of a media empire, has been hunting for an ancient relic and believes Loretta’s the only person who can help find it. (Drawing on research she did in more serious years, she revealed some actual knowledge of dead languages in her latest romance.) He jets her to a forgotten island, where he expects her to translate stone carvings and find a fabled Crown of Fire.

Dash, behaving like the adventurer in Loretta’s novels, sets off to rescue her — even if that requires the help of a man with actual skills. Jack Trainer ( Brad Pitt ), a rugged man of few words, really is the brains-and-brawn hero Loretta has imagined all these years, and the contrast between the two men provides plenty of laughs as they sneak into Fairfax’s island compound. They rescue Loretta, who’s still clad in the idiotic sequined jumpsuit Beth forced her to wear on tour; but they’re soon separated, leaving the sincere but unskilled male model trying to get through the jungle with a woman he has quietly realized he loves.

That infatuation only goes one way, despite Loretta’s many opportunities to recognize the tenderness under all that beefcake. Bullock isn’t at her most misanthropic here, but she makes Loretta as myopic and self-absorbed as any of her previous characters, accepting Dash’s help as if she were doing him a favor. Meanwhile, he’s bringing her jungle-appropriate footwear and the kind of snacks he knows she likes. And eventually hatching some fairly clever plans to evade Fairfax’s henchmen.

This is pretty close to a classic screwball-romance equation, of course. While the dialogue rarely crackles the way the original screwball films did, the Nees and their two co-writers find some pleasing little bits of action to demonstrate how the heroes’ increasing reliance on each other is destined to grow into love. Sure, it’s lame that Loretta only really warms up to Dash after she sees the bottom half of a body that is so often naked from the waist up; but Dash is a big enough man to get over being objectified.

The Nees push their luck when they look past Stone to draw on the adventures of Indiana Jones; here, action is best when it’s comedic and character-driven, not reminding us of genre masterworks. But if failing to live up to the example of Raiders of the Lost Ark were a crime, much of Hollywood would be in jail.

Even with an unnecessary subplot or two, the film feels reasonably brisk for its nearly two-hour running time — rushed, even, when it comes to the consummation of a relationship that finally begins to resemble the one that made Loretta’s books a success. Which is not to say we need another film exploring this odd-couple affair: The Nees would be wise to move on from their Stone fixation before making a pic like that film’s misbegotten sequel, 1985’s The Jewel of the Nile .

Full credits

Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Headliners) Distributor: Paramount Pictures Production companies: 3dot productions, Exhibit A, Fortis Films Cast: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nuñez, Patti Harrison, Bowen Yang Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee Screenwriters: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee, Aaron Nee Producers: Liza Chasin, Sandra Bullock, Seth Gordon Executive Producers: JJ Hook, Dana Fox, Julia Gunn, Margaret Chernin Director of photography: Jonathan Sela Production designer: Jim Bissell Costume designer: Marlene Stewart Editor: Craig Alpert Composer: Pinar Toprak Casting directors: Miguel Fernandez, Tricia Wood

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The lost city, common sense media reviewers.

Bullock romcom adventure has cheeky moments, brief blood.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

You are the author of your life story, so live lif

Loretta is a smart woman who incorporates her rese

Non-stereotypical gender representation. Loretta i

One shocking, gruesome shooting with intense blood

Kiss. A character is naked during a long, comical

Strong language includes "ass," "a--hole," "d--k,"

Quite a few brands are notably displayed or mentio

Villains smoke cigars. Drinking throughout, includ

Parents need to know that The Lost City is a romcom action adventure starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. With a theme of moving on after loss, it has strong messages about being the author of your own story and that life is "sweeter after difficulty." While most of the violence is…

Positive Messages

You are the author of your life story, so live life to the fullest. With a theme of moving on after loss, the message delivered several times is that life is "sweeter after difficulty." Themes include courage, curiosity, and teamwork.

Positive Role Models

Loretta is a smart woman who incorporates her research on ancient cultures into her work. Alan is honest, courageous, and loyal and steps out of his comfort zone to help Loretta. While both Loretta and Alan are ill-equipped to survive a jungle, they work together to overcome obstacles. Beth is a successful boss who prioritizes people over profits.

Diverse Representations

Non-stereotypical gender representation. Loretta is smart and values substance over surface. Alan is emotionally vulnerable, sensitive, humble. Less positively, his beauty routine is a source of humor; there are a couple of laughs based on his supposed lack of intelligence. But his overall depiction is meant to show that a person's relative braininess is just one characteristic in what makes them unique. Eloquent words are used to describe something some see as "ugly" (a skin condition that leads to insecurity) as beautiful. A tough Navy SEAL is also a Buddhist yoga practitioner who quotes Taoist philosophy. Successful Black female publisher Beth is a fully expressed supporting character who brings (a little) body diversity to the film. Most other characters of color are depicted as villains, corrupt, unbalanced, or smarmy.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

One shocking, gruesome shooting with intense blood splatter (but no body shown on camera, and there's a positive resolution). Additional action violence is clearly choreographed to the point of hilarity, with punches, kicks, and knocking people out with hard objects. Villains are armed and shoot guns but mostly miss. Falls that likely result in death. Positive characters are constantly in deep peril, including trapped under water or in a fiery enclosure. Lots of talk about those who potentially die, acknowledging respect for the sanctity of life, even for those with evil intent.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Kiss. A character is naked during a long, comical scene that shows his bare backside, with another character commenting extensively about the size of his penis (it's not shown). The main character is a romance novelist, and there's some innuendo and suggestiveness in regard to her writing. Some low-cut shirts. Romantic feelings.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes "ass," "a--hole," "d--k," and "s--t." "Slut" is used as a comical, misguided woman-to-woman term of endearment. "Jesus Christ!" said as an exclamation.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Quite a few brands are notably displayed or mentioned, indicating product placement, including Fiji water, Jamba Juice, and a Ram truck. Positive characters drink alcohol with the label of the beverage clearly seen, including Don Julio and Stella Artois.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Villains smoke cigars. Drinking throughout, including tequila, whiskey, champagne, wine, and beer. A character in her 20s appears to have had too much to drink.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Lost City is a romcom action adventure starring Sandra Bullock , Channing Tatum , and Daniel Radcliffe . With a theme of moving on after loss, it has strong messages about being the author of your own story and that life is "sweeter after difficulty." While most of the violence is typical big-budget action fare, there's plenty of peril and one gruesome moment involving a shooting that appears to have been added for shock value (but ultimately has a reassuring resolution). Tatum's bare backside is seen extensively in a nonsexual scene that also has a lot of references to his penis (which isn't shown). Bullock's character writes steamy novels, so expect innuendo and racy language ("d--k," "s--t," etc.), as well as some creative writing tips -- e.g., a humorous dissertation on when the word "throbbing" can and can't be used. There's lots of product placement, particularly alcoholic beverages, which are poured and consumed throughout (villains also smoke cigars). Non-stereotypical portrayals include an intelligent romance novelist, a muscular model who's emotionally vulnerable, and a philosophical Navy SEAL who's into yoga. Although most characters of color are unfortunately portrayed as corrupt or unbalanced, supporting character Beth ( Da'Vine Joy Randolph ) is a great role model: She's a successful Black businessperson who works hard, cares about profits and people, and establishes and maintains boundaries. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (12)
• Kids say (27)

Based on 12 parent reviews

Clean Hollywood movie. Thank you Sandra, Channing and Brad!

Very funny and entertaining, but not in the “family friendly” category, what's the story.

In THE LOST CITY, reclusive romance novelist Loretta Sage ( Sandra Bullock ) is starting the promotional tour for her latest work, The Lost City of D , accompanied by handsome cover model Alan ( Channing Tatum ). When Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire ( Daniel Radcliffe ) to help him find the lost city's lost treasure, Alan sets off to rescue her to prove he's just as much a hero as the one he portrays on Loretta's book covers.

Is It Any Good?

Treasure hunting + adventure + comedy + romance seems like a formula for cinematic success, and, indeed, Paramount Pictures has struck gold here. Giving off Romancing the Stone vibes, The Lost City has a hilarious script that's made even funnier with perfect casting. Bullock is the master of playing a relatably put-upon woman, and here she also gets to be the smartest person in the room and the jungle. It's a kick to see Tatum and co-star Brad Pitt play into their sex-symbol images, laughing along with the audience while simultaneously showing that the "ideal man" has the same insecurities and vulnerabilities as everyone else.

While the top-billed stars are national treasures, the real find in The Lost City is Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Loretta's publisher, Beth. She could have easily turned out as a typical romcom confidante, but Randolph offers a different take, evolving "the best friend" into a magnificent, three-dimensional, confident woman who is a boss by all definitions, literally going to the ends of the Earth for those she loves. While this isn't a perfect film, it's pretty great, and writer Seth Gordon puts plenty in it to love, including a strong message that it's the hard times that help us appreciate the good times.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence and peril in The Lost City. How did the movie use death both for comedy and to magnify the importance that the loss of any life, even that of a villain, is a tragedy? The characters are often in extreme peril: Were you ever worried? Why, or why not?

What do you think "sweeter after difficulty" means? Why might it be a good mantra to remember during rough times?

Do you think The Lost City is a romantic comedy? Why, or why not? How does it compare to other romcoms?

What is product placement, and how does it impact buying choices ? Did you notice certain brands?

Are smoking and drinking glamorized here? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 25, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : July 26, 2022
• Cast : Sandra Bullock , Channing Tatum , Daniel Radcliffe , Brad Pitt
• Directors : Aaron Nee , Adam Nee
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Adventures , Great Girl Role Models
• Character Strengths : Courage , Curiosity , Teamwork
• Run time : 92 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and language
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : April 6, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘The Lost City’ Review: Raiders of the 1980s Blockbusters

Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and a vamping Brad Pitt run around in a romantic adventure that you have seen before and will see again.

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

If you don’t have a few hours to watch the cheerfully dumb comedy “The Lost City,” just stare at the poster. Almost everything you need to know about this nonsensical lark is crammed into the one sheet: the stars, the tropical location, the Bruckheimer-esque fireball. The poster is selling sex and violence and obvious laughs, with Sandra Bullock’s sequined purple onesie doing the heavy comic lifting. And while she and Channing Tatum are the headliners, the studio has hedged its bets by also cramming in a leering goat and a Fabio-ed Brad Pitt.

The goat and Pitt are among the high points of the movie, a high-concept romp about a widowed writer, Loretta Sage (Bullock), making a tortuous re-entrance into the world. A successful romance novelist, Loretta writes books featuring a hunky dreamboat and throbbing verbs. For strained reasons, she is kidnapped while on a promo tour with the cover model for her books, Alan (Tatum). He tries to rescue her and soon they’re joking through a jungle adventure featuring a lost treasure, and a deranged rich villain (Daniel Radcliffe) and his minions. Bullets and jokes fly, not always hitting their targets.

That’s more or less the movie, which is basically a vehicle for Bullock to play her most enduring role: Sandra Bullock, your supremely likable BFF. Genuine yet packaged, challenged but unsinkable, the Bullock BFF has been a mainstay for decades. She’s endured rough patches, as in “Speed 2,” but has always bounced back, buoyed by a shrewdly deployed, indomitable persona that’s wholesome, sardonic and goofy, though not (usually) insultingly so. Although she can handle a range of genres, she excels at comedy partly because she can play off a wide range of performers: Like all BFFs, she makes a generous double act.

That said, it takes a while for Bullock and Tatum to find their groove, in part because he isn’t as comfortable in his lunkhead role as he needs to be. He’s playing a conventional sweet dope, a cliché role he handles fluidly when in Alan’s exaggerated cover-model drag, complete with flowing hair and peekaboo waxed chest. But he is less facile when his character comes off as impossibly stupid, moments he plays by affecting a bit of a Mark Wahlberg whiny singsong. Is it homage, coincidence — who knows? Whatever the case, Tatum seems happier when his character fares better too, allowing him and Bullock to settle into a breezy intimacy.

For the most part, “The Lost City” delivers exactly what it promises: A couple of highly polished avatars quipping and hitting their marks while occasionally being upstaged by their second bananas (Da’Vine Joy Randolph included). There are some accommodations to contemporary mores. Tatum bares more skin than Bullock does, flashing his sculpted hindquarters in a scene that, like the movie overall, isn’t as sharp or as funny as it should be. But while Loretta isn’t as helpless as she might have been back in the old studio days, this is still about a man rescuing a woman whose eye makeup never runs even when she does.

The director brothers Adam and Aaron Nee handle the many moving parts capably, working from a script they wrote with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox. Everything looks bright and in focus, and there are moments when the physical comedy pops, mostly when Pitt swashbuckles in. It’s clear that someone involved in the making of this movie is a fan of Robert Zemeckis’s 1984 romp “Romancing the Stone,” one of several adventure pastiches made in the wake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” While “Raiders” transcends its inspirations with wit and Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking and “Romancing” tries hard to do the same, “The Lost City” remains a copy of a copy.

It’s too bad that “The Lost City” isn’t more ambitious, because a woman writing her dreams into reality is a potentially rich riff on the Pygmalion and Galatea myth. Like “Romancing the Stone,” “The Lost City” opens with a scene from a book — cue the purple prose and dashing hero — that its novelist heroine is writing. In “The Lost City,” Loretta deletes the scene because it doesn’t work, but she can’t erase the hero. He’s a fantasy but he’s all hers. That’s the appeal of movies like this, which at a minimum understand that some of us hunger for fairy tales, even those that promise the stars and deliver Channing Tatum mooning.

The Lost City Rated PG-13 for bloodless violence and partial nudity. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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The Lost City Review

Sandra bullock and channing tatum are good at their jobs..

The Lost City will hit theaters on March 25, 2022.

The Lost City scratches that particular Channing Tatum itch, the same one satisfied by his directorial debut Dog , where he once again claims the title of Himbo Supreme. His goofy charm, coupled with the radiant and reliable presence of Sandra Bullock — who, at the age of 57, continues to lead action and romance like nobody’s business — keeps the film afloat, even when its mere 112-minute runtime starts to feel endless, and fewer of its jokes begin to land.

It’s directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, who also share writing credits with Dana Fox and Oren Uziel. Whether or not the production was a case of too many cooks, it often feels like it, between its dropped threads, its unfunny (though mercifully truncated) subplot detours, and its litany of jokes added via ADR and delivered from off-screen, only about half of which work in any given scene. However, when a movie is this self-assured of its stars and what they bring to the table, no amount of haphazard filmmaking can prevent it from being enjoyable.

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Bullock plays burnt-out romance author Loretta Sage, who balks at the prospect of yet another book tour where her heartthrob cover model — Tatum’s Alan Caprison, in character as her golden-maned hero Dash McMahon — hogs the spotlight. Twenty volumes in, she abruptly decides that her latest steamy paperback, “The Lost City of D,” will be her last, and will thus be Alan’s swan song too, which leads to an exchange of unpleasant words between the reluctant duo. However, before the well-meaning Alan can apologize, he witnesses Loretta being taken hostage by Daniel Radcliffe’s skeevy businessman Abigail Fairfax, who hopes to use Loretta’s real-world skills as a former archeologist to translate and uncover the location of a hidden treasure, if only to prove to his family that he can. It turns out Fairfax may have discovered the lost city about which Loretta had been writing, pouring elements of her old career into works of fiction by which she now feels shackled.

Armed with AirPods, a neck pillow, and a rolling suitcase, Alan mounts a rescue mission with the help of his suave former trainer, the mysterious mercenary Jack (Brad Pitt), whose resemblance to the fictitious Dash ignites sparks between him and Loretta, and ignites Alan’s envy. However, before long, the mission goes off the rails, and Alan and Loretta are left to their own devices, caught between finding their way off a mysterious Atlantic island, and potentially uncovering its archeological secrets.

What's the best Sandra Bullock comedy?

Bullock’s character is given more emotional heft than the trailers let on. For one thing, The Lost City introduces us to Loretta through pictures of her alongside her now-dead husband, whose absence has caused her to become closed off from the world. It’s a big emotional swing from a film filled wall-to-wall with jokes, but it affords Bullock the opportunity to bring a sense of gravitas to even her quippiest interactions and her bits of physical comedy, making for a delightful contrast with the seemingly airheaded Alan. Where Loretta’s woes are on full display, Alan is more of a closed book that she (and the audience) discover chapter by chapter, mostly through his genuine concern for her. For everything that doesn’t work in The Lost City — a lengthy list! — Loretta and Alan’s simmering-yet-slapstick romance makes up for nearly all of them.

Its emotional throughline doesn’t really play as intended. In order to break out of her rut, Loretta needs to stop living in the past, but the path laid out before her — of adventuring, rediscovering her old passions, and finally locating the ruins for which she and her husband had been searching — is distinctly at odds with this idea of moving forward. The film’s dramatic moments tend to grind things to a halt, acting as more of a pause button on the comedy than a complementary force, but thankfully, Tatum and Bullock’s banter is always just around the corner.

The supporting cast is, for the most part, delightful too, even when they don’t entirely work. Pitt is absurdly, almost satirically hyper-capable in an action-hero role tailor made for him. Radcliffe’s Napoleon complex as a scorned billionaire makes him a lively treat, as he whips between soft-spoken and megalomaniacal, and a couple of his key henchmen stick around throughout the story as well, adding their own color to the proceedings. One of them, Rafi (Héctor Aníbal), even has a connection to the island’s fictitious culture and gets his own conflicted arc in the process (though it doesn’t really pay this off). Elsewhere, the search for Loretta is augmented by her PR team, consisting of her hilariously misguided social media manager Allison (Patti Harrison), and her dedicated publisher Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), who unfortunately finds herself on the receiving end of the film’s least funny dialogue — mostly alongside The Office’s Oscar Nunez as an idiosyncratic pilot, who simultaneously has too much screen time and yet too little to do.

Each time the focus moves away from Tatum and Bullock — more specifically, from their rapid-fire comedic exchanges — it’s a drag, albeit a largely inoffensive one. However, every time the story returns to them and allows them to let loose, they each paint their characters’ worst moments (Alan’s well-intended idiocy and Loretta’s hardened terseness) with enough vulnerability that it becomes impossible not to enjoy their presence. Not only are they funny, but they’re funny in a deeply honest way, where each barb, each argument, and eventually, each action-packed moment of reconciliation, comes from a character-centric place.

The Lost City leaves a lot to be desired, but when it works, it works like a charm.

The Lost City is bland and messy whenever Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum aren’t on screen. Thankfully, their comedic banter is front and center for most of the film, with Bullock, playing a kidnapped smut author, showing why she still excels at action and romance, and Tatum playing her well-meaning cover model, proving once again that he’s Hollywood’s greatest Himbo.

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You know studio movies are in a rut when, amid endless Spider-Bat sequels, you find yourself longing for the likes of such escapist 1980s offerings as “Romancing the Stone” and “King Solomon’s Mines.” I can’t be the only one who’s been craving a good old-fashioned treasure hunt, where the leads throw sparks and the ladies’ makeup never smudges, no matter how close to the volcano they get. After a long stretch without such a big-screen Hollywood adventure movie (at least, not one without ties to a video game or theme park ride), “ The Lost City ” makes for welcome counter-programming.

The story was producer Seth Gordon’s idea, but credit siblings Adam and Aaron Nee (who tested the waters with their Mark Twain-inspired “Band of Robbers”) for sprucing up the formula, while Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum supply the chemistry. Bullock plays brainy romance novelist Loretta Sage, who’s lost her inspiration since the death of her husband, an archaeologist who might have been onto something. Her once-scorching potboilers barely simmer these days, and she’s seriously thinking of killing off Dash, the long-haired, Fabio-looking Lothario who graces the covers of all her books.

She can hardly stand Alan (Tatum), the dum-dum male model who embodies Dash, dismissing him as a mouth-breathing “body wash commercial.” But Alan’s a hit with the ladies at book-signing events, and lucky for her, he sorta-kinda likes Loretta — enough to go traipsing halfway across the Atlantic after she’s kidnapped by a wealthy weirdo named Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). A billionaire with an insecurity complex, Fairfax is convinced that Loretta knows the location of the Crown of Fire, a long-lost diamond headdress described in her latest book, and he flies her to a remote tropical island to help him find it. Maybe then Daddy will love him.

Alan, who isn’t the brightest, has the wisdom to enlist an old acquaintance, lethal ex-Navy SEAL Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), who typically works solo. But Alan insists on tagging along, and together these two dreamy dudes follow the signal from Loretta’s watch to the middle of the Atlantic, where Abigail has located the “Lost City of D.” To Alan’s chagrin, Loretta seems a lot more interested in Jack once she’s rescued, although the adventure’s only just begun. (Pitt, who provides the kind of scene-stealing cameo Tatum did in last summer’s “Free Guy,” doesn’t stick around for long.)

Free from captivity but still stuck on the island, Loretta realizes that maybe she could figure out where the Crown of Fire is hidden. Pursued by Abigail’s henchmen, she and Alan make their way through the jungle, navigating nearly all the usual pitfalls of the genre — minus bone-in-the-nose natives. “The Lost City” evokes movies that can seem outrageously insensitive when revisited today, while avoiding the most wince-inducing clichés. One reason I’ve been craving a fresh “Romancing the Stone”-like movie is that I happened to revisit the original during the early days of COVID and winced at the overtly racist stereotypes (not to mention the unconvincing Mexico-as-South-America locations).

“The Lost City” was shot in the Dominican Republic, and though there’s a whole lot of CG involved, it’s still great to see movie stars running around real jungles, especially after being cooped up indoors for two years. Even at the movie’s masks-on SXSW Film Festival premiere, “The Lost City” was a breath of fresh air: the kind of breezy two-hour getaway that doesn’t take itself too seriously, delivering screwball banter between Bullock and Tatum — a guilty-pleasure treasure hunt that pretends to be more progressive than it really is by alternating between who’s saving whom.

Loretta Sage is no feminist icon — she runs around the island in high heels and a glittering fuchsia jumpsuit — but at least the movie lets her keep her clothes on, whereas Alan’s constantly losing his. Ditching the usual bimbo-in-peril routine of movies like “Six Days, Seven Nights,” the movie focuses more on Dash’s cleavage than it does hers, and there’s even a gratuitous leech-removal scene that reveals more of the actor than “Magic Mike” did. Tatum knows what his fans want, and so does Bullock, leaning into the kind of physical comedy that’s been her forte since “Miss Congeniality.” A bit in which she’s wheelbarrowed through the jungle while strapped to a chair, as pyrotechnics go off around her, revives the goofiness factor that’s been missing from CG-dominated action movies.

“The Lost City” won’t be nominated for any Oscars, but it repeats what Spielberg and Lucas did for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” mining a century-old genre for inspiration and polishing those tropes for a new generation. A subplot involving Loretta’s publisher Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) makes room for a few people of color (including Oscar Nuñez as an offbeat accomplice), and it’s a nice surprise to see Radcliffe playing against type, even if the movie doesn’t quite know how to wrap up the supporting characters’ stories. (A bonus scene tucked into the end credits essentially invalidates one of the movie’s best gags.) The result can feel a little rickety in places, but the Nee brothers — who share screenplay credit with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox — have punched it up with off-color jokes, looped over moments when the characters’ mouths are off-camera. In this and myriad other ways, “The Lost City” proves they do in fact make ’em like they used to.

Reviewed at SXSW Film Festival (Headliners), March 12, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 112 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Pictures release and presentation of a Fortis Films, 3dot Prods., Exhibit A production. Producers: Liza Chasin, Sandra Bullock, Seth Gordon. Executive producers: JJ Hook, Dana Fox, Julia Gunn, Margaret Chernin.
• Crew: Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee. Screenplay: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee & Aaron Nee; story: Seth Gordon. Camera: Jonathan Sela. Editor: Craig Alpert. Music: Pinar Toprak.
• With: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nuñez, Patti Harrison, Bowen Yang.

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Review: Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum go enjoyably neo-screwball in ‘The Lost City’

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Midway through the tomb-raiding, car-crashing, butt-baring shenanigans of “The Lost City,” Channing Tatum pauses to remind Sandra Bullock not to judge a book by its cover. It’s an apt cliché: She plays Loretta Sage, the author of a series of popular romance novels; he’s Alan, the stud whose ripped chest and Fabio wig have helped sell her paperbacks to millions of happy readers. To Loretta, Alan is an incompetent himbo with delusions of grandeur and certainly the last fool she’d want to be stuck with on a wild and crazy jungle adventure. But like a lot of Tatum characters (see the “Magic Mike” and “21 Jump Street” movies — seriously), he turns out to be smarter, deeper and more genuinely heroic than she expects.

So sure, don’t judge a book by its cover. I should note, however, that I may have committed an equivalent offense when I opted to check out “The Lost City”: The poster made it look kind of fun, and lo and behold, it is. It helps that the pairing of Bullock and Tatum — now that sounds like a law firm I’d hire, or at least a hoity-toity restaurant I’d eat at — is as delightful as you’d expect from two actors of such goofy charm and combustible energy. It also helps that the directors, Aaron and Adam Nee ( “Band of Robbers” ), have tailored this unapologetically derivative vehicle to their stars’ easygoing chemistry, taking what might have been a strained, clanging excuse for a mainstream action-comedy and investing it with, if not big belly laughs, then at least a refreshing sweetness of spirit.

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This may sound like a strange thing to say about a movie in which the male lead gets spattered with human viscera and attacked by blood-sucking leeches (though not, thankfully, in the same scene). But I’m getting ahead of the plot, which is a pleasant mix of the familiar, the preposterous and the familiarly preposterous.

Along with their co-writers, Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, the brothers Nee have rearranged the sturdy bones of “Romancing the Stone,” Robert Zemeckis’ 1984 adventure starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Once again a pulp novelist finds herself lost in a distant jungle thanks to some treasure-hungry ne’er-do-wells, and once again a not-entirely-trustworthy man comes to her ostensible rescue. This variation on the formula has fewer crocodiles and more explosions; it also has a bonus extended cameo by Brad Pitt , briefly and amusingly sending up his own guy’s-guy nonchalance.

Sandra Bullock makes ‘The Lost City’ feel like home at SXSW

The action-comedy ‘The Lost City,’ starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe, brought warm, friendly star power to Austin, Texas.

March 13, 2022

The two lead roles have also been deftly customized, both to reflect a more 21st-century gender dynamic and to accommodate the yin-yang mix of Bullock’s smarts and Tatum’s sensitivity. Loretta may be a popular writer, but she also despises her work and most of her readers; she’s a serious-minded archaeologist by trade (so, sniff, was her late husband) with a specialty in dead languages. This (sort of) explains why she’s suddenly kidnapped, mid-book tour, by Alistair Fairfax (a very good Daniel Radcliffe), a wealthy media baron with a Murdoch-scion complex who flies her to his heavily guarded compound on a distant island, where she and she alone can locate the whereabouts of some storied El Dorado.

And so even as she has to traipse through the jungle in an impractical sequined jumpsuit as purple as her prose, Loretta is hardly a damsel in distress. And Bullock, having already bested an exploding bus in “Speed,” a failing spacecraft in “Gravity” and a suicidal epidemic in “Bird Box,” regards this out-of-nowhere abduction as if it were merely an ill-timed holiday. Loretta is better prepared to survive a deadly tropical adventure than, say, Alan, who nonetheless touchingly chases after her, determined to live up to the chivalry and heroism of his fictional alter ego.

And after a bumbling, grumbling fashion, he does. Alan isn’t much of a fighter, as we see in a few amusingly staged early action scenes, but his abiding sweetness gradually disarms Loretta, as does his habit of shedding clothing whenever narratively necessary (which is cheekily often). It also nudges “The Lost City” into a more pleasurably laid-back groove than you might expect. You wouldn’t call this movie understated, exactly: There are cars to crash, ancient treasures to uncover and bad men to incinerate, but Bullock and Tatum never seem in any particular hurry to get it all done.

They make an effortlessly watchable duo, whether they’re squeezing into a hammock or negotiating the gently bickersome neo-screwball rhythms of the dialogue. The other actors pick up nicely on their vibes, including Oscar Nuñez as a friendly guy with a goat and a terrific Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Loretta’s tirelessly loyal book agent, who knows all too well the value of romantic fantasies as shrewdly calculated as this one.

‘The Lost City’

Rated: PG-13, for violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and language Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes Playing: Starts March 25 in general release

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Justin Chang was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2016 to 2024. He is the author of the book “FilmCraft: Editing” and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

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'The Lost City' is silly, sexy, movie-star fun

Linda Holmes

There are so many Sandra Bullocks, and there are so many Channing Tatums.

Putting these two in a movie together could give you the gritty and dramatic, the glamorous, or the swooning and romantic version of both. But happily, The Lost City gives you their silly romantic-comedy version. I must admit: In both cases, I think it's my favorite.

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Bullock plays Loretta, who started out as an anthropologist and, after the death of her husband and collaborator, used that knowledge to write a hugely popular series of adventure romance novels featuring a hero named Dash. Tatum plays Alan, the cover model who represents Dash, whose Fabio-ish flowing locks have made him even more popular with Loretta's fans than she is. Loretta is ambivalent as she debuts her latest novel; she's in a rut with these characters, and to the dismay of her editor, Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), she's thinking about just closing down the whole franchise. Among other things, she's sick of being forced to promote her books alongside Alan, whom she considers vain and dopey.

Loretta is in the middle of blowing up her book tour when she is grabbed by a couple of dudes who work for a rich jerk named Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), whose reason for kidnapping Loretta relates to her academic work rather than her novels. When Alan — who does like Loretta, even though she doesn't like him at all — realizes she's in trouble, he decides to try to rescue her. So it turns into an adventure-romcom, and of course they learn to like each other, and comedy ensues.

The obvious reference here is Romancing the Stone , the 1984 film in which Kathleen Turner plays a romance novelist who gets swept up in an adventure with Michael Douglas' on-the-nose rugged adventure hero. But this is really an inversion of that idea, given that Alan is very much not Dash, and in a very funny sequence I really don't want to spoil, you get a chance to see him alongside a guy who is more like Dash, and the two could not be more different.

There's not much to this movie from a plot perspective, and few of the story beats are going to surprise anybody or say anything. (Although I do like the way that what threatens early on to become a distasteful caricature of romance writing gets some reconsideration as the film goes along.) The draw in The Lost City is simply the fabulous time everybody seems to be having, particularly Bullock and Tatum, who are delightful together, and both of whom capitalize very well on their skills in physical comedy.

Channing Tatum is one of the best of his generation at understanding his physical self and using it in interesting ways, from the dancing in Step Up and Magic Mike, to the unexpected action scenes in Haywire, to the stillness of the athlete he played in Foxcatcher, to his talent in comedy. He has not only a dancer's understanding of dance itself, but a dancer's understanding of his body and how it plays in different settings. Here, he takes a character who is introduced as a perfect specimen and finds the guy's inner doofus. And it's not just through pratfalls — it's through small, smart choices (how he runs, how he crouches, how he stands, what he looks like when he's scared) that strip away cover-model swagger and emphasize that an action hero is not just a guy who goes to the gym.

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This kind of being funny is also one of Sandra Bullock's strengths. She's always been good in comedies and in action movies with comedy elements, like Speed , in part because she understands not only how to deliver jokes, but how to look funny. Most of Miss Congeniality is about this; she is why it works. And there's a moment in While You Were Sleeping in which the great Jason Bernard, playing Bullock's boss, gives her a blunt assessment of her standing as the fake fiancée of a man in a coma, and she makes what might be the most inspired "yikes" face of the '90s. When people think of physical comedy, maybe it's more traditional to mean broad and big sequences, but these are both actors whose talent in comedy is closely connected with how well they understand what looks funny.

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They're also both very good at turning on a dime; there's a scene in which they do get to dance together (if you're going to be in a romantic comedy with Channing Tatum, you should certainly get to dance with him), and as silly as the rest of the movie is, that scene is pretty sexy. And refreshingly, even though there's more than 15 years between Bullock and Tatum, nobody talks about it — just like they rarely talk about it when men in romantic films are significantly older than the women they played opposite.

The Lost City isn't up there with the brilliantly silly Paul Feig action comedies that it seems to be inspired by, like Spy and The Heat . It doesn't have the joke density they do, nor the multiplicity of inspired supporting performances. (It's possible the writing got a little scattershot — the screenplay is credited to the directors Adam and Aaron Nee, plus Dana Fox and Oren Uziel, from a story by Seth Gordon. The shaggy script may have had too many cooks.) And despite the fact that Loretta talks (and the movie talks) about how "artifact near a volcano" stories about white "adventurers" are adjacent to colonization, the fact remains that the movie still is calling on a lot of those tropes, even as it tries to critique them a bit.

Still, as a broadly goofy comedy featuring two enormously charismatic leads who are perfectly suited to each other, it scratches a particular itch very, very effectively.

Screen Rant

The lost city review: bullock & tatum charm in fun old-school adventure.

With the effortlessly charming and talented cast doing most of the heavy lifting, The Lost City makes for a highly entertaining, joyful adventure.

Directed by Adam Nee and Aaron Nee from a screenplay they co-wrote with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, The Lost City feels like a film from the past (in a good way). The film doesn’t set out to do anything different, settling into the comforts certain tropes and story beats provide. However, that doesn’t make The Lost City any less fun than it aims to be. With the effortlessly charming and talented cast doing most of the heavy lifting, The Lost City makes for a highly entertaining, joyful adventure.

The Lost City follows best-selling romance author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock), a widow who is trying her best to finish her latest book in time for a book tour her manager, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), put together. Loretta isn’t feeling it, though, especially when she realizes Alan (Channing Tatum), a model who portrays Dash, Loretta’s character, on the cover of all of her books, will be at the events. All Alan wants to do is please Loretta, but all the recluse wants to do is to go back home. However, her life takes an adventurous turn when she’s kidnapped by billionaire Abigail Fairfax ( Daniel Radcliffe ), who believes the Lost City of D the author wrote about — as well as the tomb containing a treasure he’s seeking — is real. Enter Alan who, despite not knowing at all what he’s doing, endeavors to go save her.

Related:  Sandra Bullock Fought Studio Hard to Get The Lost City Movie Made

The Lost City has a lot going for it: a charming cast, genuinely funny moments, and some adrenaline-fueled adventure. The film harkens back to the days when such romcom adventures were more of a constant. Bullock and Tatum have the bickering down, but when things slow down between them, they’re able to understand each other a lot better than before. As a team, they work well and they’re the highlight of the film overall, with their comedic timing being especially worth noting. Tatum really delivers as a man who’s got his heart in the right place, even when he isn’t the most intelligent of people. His rapport with both Bullock and Brad Pitt — whose role as Jack Trainer is smaller than the trailers would have one believe — is fantastic. The frustrated energy Bullock puts out is fabulous and the physical humor employed by Tatum underlines his comedic abilities well.

If anything, The Lost City could have used a lot more heat between Bullock and Tatum, with only a couple of scenes making good use of their chemistry before the film moves on too quickly to the next thing. That said, the film is well-paced and, at one point, even surprising. Not all the humor lands, but it is so full with comedic moments that the audience will find themselves laughing more often than not at the antics and reactions of the characters. Tatum’s Alan, who has zero combat skills, takes to slapping Fairfax’s henchmen when they attack and it’s incredibly amusing to watch. Mostly, The Lost City is buoyed by Bullock and Tatum’s charisma, of which they have plenty. Radcliffe’s turn as the villain of the story really works, though he only gets a few moments to show off how truly menacing he can be.

The Lost City is an overall fun film. It’s engaging and full of humor that never feels forced for the sake of it. Aaron and Adam Nee have crafted a film that is never boring, maintaining its sense of intrigue and momentum throughout without falling flat. It’s rare for films these days to mix a bit of romance with the thrills of an adventure without crumbling under their own weight or lack of charm. However, The Lost City has plenty of each and, while obviously formulaic, audiences will find themselves entertained for the majority of the film’s runtime thanks to a story that understands what it’s supposed to be and the talents of a great cast.

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The Lost City is playing in theaters as of March 25, 2022. The film is 112 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and language.

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‘The Lost City’ review: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum find a chemistry that’s off the charts

Movie review.

How charming is “The Lost City”? So charming that the villain is played by Daniel Radcliffe. So charming that it leaves you wondering why nobody has asked Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum to host the Oscars, or make an “Ocean’s 8” sequel in which he’s the mark, or team up for a series of PSAs in which they just banter for 30 seconds and make everyone feel better. So charming that the popcorn I was holding simply vanished, with no memory of it having ever existed. So charming that Brad Pitt, who pops by for an extended cameo, is not even the most charming person in it — and that, my friends, is a lot of charm.

“The Lost City,” directed by brothers Aaron Nee and Adam Nee, is no masterpiece; you sense that in the hands of a lesser cast, it might even have been a bit of a slog. Its story feels both ridiculous and predictable: Loretta Sage (Bullock), the reclusive author of bestselling romantic adventure novels, gets kidnapped while wearing a purple sequined jumpsuit (this is an important detail) by an eccentric rich dude (Radcliffe) who hopes she can lead him to a lost treasure in an ancient city alluded to in her recent book. Alan (Tatum), the absurdly handsome cover model for her book series, takes it upon himself to rescue her. Lots of running about in the jungle ensues, along with other “Romancing the Stone”-ish complications that you can likely figure out for yourself.

But Bullock and Tatum take hold of the material and turn it into an enchanted screwball. These two characters, we learn, don’t initially like each other very much: Loretta complains to her long-suffering agent (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) that “he’s always glistening all over the place”; Alan calls Loretta a “human mummy,” only to be reminded that mummies are human. (Alan is not the brightest bulb in the box, something Tatum plays with a sweetly masterful deadpan; referring to Loretta as a “word writer extra ordinary.”) After the kidnapping, Alan engages the services of a contractor skilled in jungle rescue (a grinning Pitt, having a ball) but insists on coming along on the mission, “for backup and awesomeness.” I cannot begin to describe how perfectly Tatum delivers that line, and I would like to get it as a ringtone.

The comic chemistry between these two is off the charts, and it’s such a pleasure to see Bullock, who’s been taking a detour into heavy drama lately (“Bird Box,” “The Unforgivable”), reminding us that she’s both the most likable of stars and a brilliant comedian. Watch her variety of funny walks; note how Loretta’s posture changes in that jumpsuit (it’s as if she’s apologizing for it); and listen as both she and Tatum mutter asides to each other that feel entirely spontaneous. Maybe they are? Here’s hoping these two team up again, immediately; we need them.

With Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nunez, Patti Harrison. Directed by Adam Nee and Aaron Nee, from a screenplay by Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Nee and Nee. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13 for violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and language. Opens March 23 at multiple theaters.

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Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" feels like the distillation of countless conversations and family legends, rehearsed from time immemorial by Cubans who fled their homeland and sought to re-create it in their memories. In every family such stories, repeated endlessly, can become tedious, but there is another sense in which they are a treasured ritual. There was a Cuba, remembered at firsthand only by those who are growing older now, that was a beloved place, and stopped existing when Castro came to power in 1959.

Garcia's family lived in that older Cuba, and so did Guillermo Cabrera Infante , the Cuban writer and film critic who wrote this screenplay. (The project, long discussed, was not easy for Garcia to finance; Infante died in February 2005.) Infante and Garcia do not deceive themselves that the old Cuba was a paradise: It is seen as corrupt, controlled in key areas by the Mafia, and built on a class system in which many were poor so that a few could be rich. The problem is that Castro did not cure the ills so much as distribute them more evenly, so that more could be miserable. Garcia and Infante are against the old and the new, against both the rotten Batista regime and the disappointment of Castro and Che Guevara. There is a moment in the film when a senator agrees that Batista must be overthrown, but argues wistfully that it must be done "constitutionally." Fat chance.

Garcia stars in the film as Fico Fellove, a suave operator who owns and runs a Havana nightclub named El Tropico. Showgirls perform a Vegas-style revue, the customers are elegant and intriguing, and at the door their big sleek American cars glisten in the neon lights. Fico wants this life to continue forever, and like Rick in " Casablanca " he is not particularly political. At a time when Batista's grip seems to be weakening, when reports from the mountains magnify Castro's popularity, he receives a visitor: The gangster Meyer Lansky ( Dustin Hoffman ), who wants to become Fico's partner in turning El Tropico into a casino. It is the kind of offer Fico can refuse, although that might not be prudent.

Fico's brothers have a different orientation in the dying days of the old regime. Luis ( Nestor Carbonell ) embraces the revolutionary cause, and Ricardo ( Enrique Murciano ) journeys into the mountains to fight with Castro. The rest of the family deplores their decisions; Fico comforts Aurora ( Ines Sastre ), Luis' wife, who complains that her husband is away so much he must be cheating. He is not cheating but rebelling, but never mind: Fico ends by falling in love with her himself.

Commenting on all of these events is an enigmatic character named The Writer, played by Bill Murray as a jester who speaks in jokes that contain the truth. His running commentary on Lansky is bold to the point of recklessness. It is never quite explained who The Writer is, although some articles on the film claim he represents the screenwriter, Infante.

If so, he gives Infante an opening into the story that he can use to speak directly, if obliquely, of the absurdity of the times. Indeed Infante himself played such a role under both Batista and Castro, saying what he believed in such a way that no one could be quite certain he had gone too far. Batista nevertheless jailed him, and Castro uneasily made him a cultural attache in Belgium, not then a key posting. A lifelong communist, Infante felt Castro betrayed the party's principles, and eventually chose exile. His Twentieth Century Job , a collection of his movie reviews, has some of the same wry dubious philosophy expressed by The Writer in the film.

I enjoyed Murray and his scenes, but the character doesn't fit with the rest of the film. Fico Fellove is not a particularly witty or sunny character and does not suffer fools gladly. Why does he make an exception for The Writer? There are scenes where we almost wonder if The Writer is intended to be physically present at all; for all that Fico takes notice of him, perhaps he is a ghost visible only to us.

The main line of "The Lost City" involves the fall of Batista, Castro's entry into Havana, the divisions that opens up in the family, and the quick disillusionment with the new regime, which is as arbitrary as the old, and more dogmatic. A musicians' strike at the nightclub symbolizes the way power is misused by those who have only just possessed it. Fico's loss is magnified by the heartbreak of the old musician who choreographed the shows and danced as a counterpoint to the girls; he has lost his whole world.

The movie evokes that long-ago world carefully and with a certain poetry; it was shot in the Dominican Republic. There is a lot of music, much of it from the period and performed by the same musicians or their successors. The costumes and the interiors set off the way the characters carry themselves, with grace and confidence.

At 143 minutes, the movie is too long, but it has a lot to cover and a lot to say, and I imagine Garcia has a reason for thinking every scene is necessary. There is romance and some action, but it is not a romance or an adventure film; it is a personal version of what happened in Cuba and what it felt like at the time. Communicating that effectively, it lacks a larger view; newsreel footage covers for historical events that another film might have tried to stage, and the implication is that for characters like Fico, the revolution took place more in the news than in his own life, and he was not quite prepared for such an upheaval. At the end he and a great many others leave Cuba for Miami or New York, where, for Fico, Meyer Lansky awaits.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Lost City (2006)

Rated R violence

144 minutes

Andy Garcia as Fico Fellove

Bill Murray as The Writer

Ines Sastre as Aurora Fellove

Dustin Hoffman as Meyer Lansky

Tomas Milian as Don Federico Fellove

Steven Bauer as Capt. Castel

Nestor Carbonell as Luis Fellove

William Marquez as Rodney

Julio Oscar Mechoso as Colonel Candela

Enrique Murciano as Ricardo Fellove

Elizabeth Pena as Miliciana Munoz

Millie Perkins as Dona Cecilia Fellove

Tony Plana as The Emcee

Directed by

• Andy Garcia
• Guillermo Cabrera Infante

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The Lost City Review

13 Apr 2022

The Lost City

Death cannot stop true love; it can only delay it for a while. Or so The Princess Bride taught us. Sure enough, the much bally-hooed death of the big-screen romcom is beginning to look more like a hiatus, because here we are in 2022 with a crowd-pleasing, star-led romance in an exotic location. If much of directors Adam and Aaron Nee’s plot feels like a throwback to an earlier era, and in particular to Romancing The Stone , the humour here is entirely up-to-date and immensely fun.

The familiar bits first: Sandra Bullock steps into Kathleen Turner ’s shoes as a successful romance novelist whose personal life is a mess. But unlike Joan Wilder, Bullock’s Loretta is grieving a lost husband, and seems irritable at the success of her own books. In place of Michael Douglas ’ tough jungle guide we have Channing Tatum ’s gentle cover model Alan, who’s nursing both a crush on and a grudge against Loretta, the latter for her refusal to take her own books seriously. However, when she’s kidnapped by a media billionaire’s son, Abigail Fairfax ( Daniel Radcliffe ), Alan swings ineffectually into action, and soon our two heroes are lost in the jungle of a small island, bickering and perhaps bonding as they try to find safety.

None of this is particularly new, of course. Bullock has played the wary, uptight over-achiever before; Tatum’s given us previous variations on witless-yet-beautiful; even a bit with leeches has been done before. But the film finds nuance to season the archetypes. There’s more than lip service paid to Loretta’s grief and her dashed dreams of serious scholarship, and while she’s not immune to Alan’s looks, you can see 
why he wouldn’t be on her radar. Tatum, meanwhile, gamely plays the bimbo role, but manages to inject just enough edge to suggest 
that Alan’s brain is merely underutilised and not entirely absent.

This movie is like its star’s jumpsuit: sparkly, gorgeous and entirely frivolous.

With the stars carrying the film along, the Nees can add emotion and humour in the detail. They mine laughs from Alan’s phone contacts and Fairfax’s cheese board, while costume designer Marlene Stewart puts Bullock in a fuschia-coloured sequinned jumpsuit that plays well against the otherwise standard jungle aesthetics. Brad Pitt ’s hyper-capable survival trainer, Jack Trainer, is an awe-inspiring embodiment of the romance novel archetype who threatens even the usually laid-back Alan, while Da’Vine Joy Randolph does a lot with very little as Loretta’s editor. Radcliffe even comes close to saying something true about the entitlement and self-righteousness of the super-wealthy as a black-sheep billionaire.

Really, though, you have to want to find deeper meanings here. This movie is like its star’s jumpsuit: sparkly, gorgeous and entirely frivolous. It coasts by on charisma and comedic talent, on dancing and daring, on stunning locations (the Dominican jungle) and stakes that are high enough to hold the attention and not a millimetre higher. You will predict almost every beat before it arrives and welcome its arrival anyway, because the formula works. The romcom is dead; long live the romcom.

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The Lost City Elevates a Standard Plot With Humor & Chemistry

The Lost City's endearing characters, strong performances, and enthusiastic embrace of genre tropes elevate a by-the-numbers plot.

The Lost City  suffers from a forgettable plot but is otherwise largely a comic success. The movie is elevated by a committed cast and an unabashedly enthusiastic tone that finds the right balance of embracing and parodying the genres it recreates.

After years of writing successful (and self-described schlock) romance-adventure novels, Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) decides she's had enough. Intending to end the series and retreat back into her grief over the death of her husband, Sage is caught off-guard when the volatile billionaire Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) kidnaps her and brings her to a remote island. It turns out a reference to her husband's archeology work in her books gives Sage key insight into potentially uncovering an ancient city containing a priceless treasure. Meanwhile, Sage's well-meaning but dimwitted cover model Alan (Channing Tatum) and her desperate publicist Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) embark on separate missions to rescue her. Alan rushes to the island after recruiting the military expert Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt).

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The Lost City is unapologetic in its influences, drawing equally from  Romancing the Stone ,  Indiana Jones , and even a bit of  21 Jump Street's knowing embrace of genre tropes. That doesn't hurt the film. If anything, the unsubtle references give the film's leads more room to poke fun at the genres without going full parody. Bullock and Tatum's chemistry carries the film, with Tatum's puppy-dog enthusiasm to save the day proving consistently endearing. Bullock finds interesting touches to a relatively one-note character, whose motivations throughout the film prove shakier than Tatum's straightforward character. The real MVP though is Radcliffe, who digs his teeth into a comically manic performance as a would-be villain who's so over his head that his desperation becomes genuinely threatening.

The Lost City honestly shouldn't work as well as it does. The plot is straightforward, and many of the jokes prove somewhat obvious. Comic discretions abound, distracting from a plot that always seems to be in a hurry to skip to the comedy and action beats. Those little throwaway gags spent with Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, and Oscar Nuñez are all entertaining, relying on the performers to imbue the minor characters with fun touches.  The Lost City  showcases directors Adam and Aaron Nee's action-chops well. In fact, the pair prove adept at the bombastic adventure-comedy and still imbue their characters with the kind of earnest core that made their previous films like Band of Robbers sing.

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Even the obvious sight gags and action beats largely land thanks to Bullock and Tatum, both of whom have showcased impressive comic chops over the years and quickly find a fun rapport together.  Both are also refreshingly willing to go full slapstick with their antics.  The biggest laughs happen when they just bicker or reason with one another, which could carry a film all on its own. The film would fall apart without Bullock and Tatum. The plot of  The Lost City is almost an after-thought, but not in a careless way. The film is just far more focused on the interplay of the characters and how the journey reflects Loretta's own personal growth. Threading the story is her lingering grief over losing her husband, an element that carries the emotional heft of her arc and works as well as it does because of Bullock's performance.

At one point, Tatum's Alan finds himself defending "schlock" and other kinds of entertainment that might be called disposable, highlighting how happy it can make people. It's a sentiment at the heart of the entire film -- just have fun, and don't overcomplicate the nice things in life. If that line is a statement of intent and purpose,  The Lost City achieves its goal fairly well. While the film might not be revolutionary, it is certainly an entertaining watch.

The Lost City hits theaters on March 25.

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The Lost City review: A big screwball swing for old-school action-comedy

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum are 'Lost' and on the loose in a breezy, patently ridiculous throwback to '80s romps.

Leah Greenblatt is the critic at large at Entertainment Weekly , covering movies, music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and has been writing for EW since 2004.

Somewhere in the mists of time before IP and franchise, there used to be a lot more of a certain kind of sunny, modestly ambitious movie that might have been called a romp: blithe action comedies in which two pretty people fight and blunder and fall for each other, and maybe romance a few stones along the way.

Almost everything about The Lost City (in theaters March 25) feels familiar in that sense, and comforting, too: a cheerfully shambolic grab-bag of shenanigans and movie stars with enough screwball wit and self-awareness to drag it into 2022. It's also a fitting send-off for Sandra Bullock , who recently announced her retirement , or at least a furlough from acting, and was essentially forged in stuff like this. Here she's Loretta Sage, a woman who writes bestselling bodice-rippers she can barely stand; Channing Tatum is Dash, the genetically blessed himbo whose fame as the palomino-maned cover model for her novels have made the two of them synonymous, much to her chagrin.

Except his real name is actually Alan, and the hair, like his life skills, is largely an illusion. He's only ever really had to play the hero on embossed paperbacks, so when Loretta is plucked from a book-tour event by unknown assailants and kidnapped, he feels compelled to prove that he can be that guy in real life. And when her Apple Watch pings somewhere over the Atlantic, her panicked publicist, Beth (Da'vine Joy Randolph), agrees to let him go ahead, largely because he's the only one with anything resembling an action plan.

That plan pretty much begins and ends with texting Jack Trainer ( Brad Pitt ), a freelance mercenary he met once at a meditation retreat. Jack is everything Alan isn't: combat expert, casual intellectual, man of substance and advanced sleeper holds. Thankfully, he also accepts crypto, and it doesn't take them long to track Loretta down on the remote tropical island where the black-sheep son of a media mogul called Abigail Fairfax ("It's a gender-neutral name!") has taken her in the hopes of using her knowledge of ancient cuneiforms to track down an ancient treasure known as the Crown of Fire.

In other words, it's all ridiculous, and everyone here, including directing duo Adam and Aaron Nee ( Band of Robbers ) knows it. But Fairfax is played by Daniel Radcliffe, who is clearly having more fun than most actors recently conscripted to represent today's favored screen bogeyman, the feckless tech-bro villain (See also: Free Guy , Old Guard , Venom , The Matrix Revolutions ). His Abigail is a perfect twerp, the peevish flipside to Pitt's Most Interesting Man in the World shtick. Randolph's harried, brutally honest Beth and Patti Harrison, as a daffy social-media manager, also regularly manage to steal their scenes from the margins.

But nothing in Lost City would really hang together without its main pair, whose chemistry movies like this inevitably live or die on. She's a trademark Bullock heroine, forever vacillating between serene self-assurance and high anxiety; he's like a happy Labrador, winning hearts and minds while heedlessly crashing into things. Their rapport feels both meticulously market-tested and somehow gratifyingly natural, and strong enough too to withstand a careening, unabashedly cartoonish plot (penned by Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon) whose into-the-sunset endgame is already guaranteed. They're just here to play with wigs and passports and pratfalls and for two breezy, anesthetizing hours, make the world outside disappear. Grade: B

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The Lost City , directed by Aaron and Adam Nee and written by Oren Uziel, Dana Fox and Adam Nee, comes at the right time to make audiences laugh. I mean, it’s formulaic, but with its slapstick humor and smoldering leads Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum , the film is a deserved addition to the treasure-hunting adventure film genre. 

Loretta Sage (Bullock) is an author of romance novels who just finished a new story. She speaks of adventures, buried treasure, and lost, ancient cities in her books while deciphering dead languages. Since her husband died, she lives as a recluse while harping on the past. Her publicist Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) arranges a book tour featuring the male model representing Dash, a character in her book. His real name is Alan (Tatum), and they do not get along.

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Dressed as a Solid Gold dancer, Loretta’s first stop on tour is a disaster. No one is there for her. They want to see Dash shirtless. After being annoyed by the ordeal, she leaves the event and is subsequently kidnapped and brought face to face with billionaire Abigail Fairfax ( Daniel Radcliffe ). He’s been searching for the lost city of D to find the crown of fire—both are things she’s written about in her books. Fairfax located the city but needs her to translate precisely where the crown is held and believes Loretta is the only one who can translate the map of its location. Alan is the only person who witnessed Loretta being taken by strange men and plans to rescue her by any means necessary.

The Lost City  takes a lot of its cues from films like  Indiana Jones , Romancing the Stone,  and every other movie of this type. It fails to stand on its own with so much being pulled from earlier creative works, but that’s not a bad thing.  The Lost City  is fun, and the sparks between the lead actors pump life into this film. Individually, Bullock and Tatum are incredibly charismatic as individuals, but as a duo, they create a rhythm of movement and sound that causes their dynamite chemistry to leap off-screen and smack you in the face. 

They also aren’t afraid of slapstick or physical comedy. When  Miss Congeniality  premiered at SXSW in 2000, Bullock , for a time, was the reigning queen of comedy. After starring in Paul Feig’s The Heat , the actress starred in more serious roles and darker comedies, but with  The Lost City , Bullock shows she’s still got it in her to fall and look silly for laughs. Tatum also has a résumé filled with primarily comedic roles, which he has honed and excels at. He takes pride in using his looks and charm, acting like a class clown. 

The directors’ work isn’t remarkable in any way, but it’s certainly easy to tell they love what they do. Bullock and Tatum are the glue that holds this film together and are infinitely more interesting than what’s happening around them. Without them,  The Lost City  would not have sustained through its nearly two-hour run time. The duo is naturally funny and knows how to add levels of vulnerability to any role they tackle. Most of all, they know how to have a good time, and the energy they emit is infectious. 

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• DVD & Streaming

The Lost City

• Action/Adventure , Comedy , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• March 25, 2022
• Sandra Bullock as Loretta Sage; Channing Tatum as Alan; Daniel Radcliffe as Fairfax; Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Beth; Brad Pitt as Jack Trainer; Patti Harrison as Pratt Caprison; Oscar Nunez as Adrian Austin

Home Release Date

• May 10, 2022
• Aaron and Adam Nee

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Loretta Sage is suffering from a serious case of lover’s block.

Not writer’s block. The novelist can string words together just fine. But the thing is, Loretta writes romance novels. And honestly, ever since her husband died, Loretta just hasn’t been in the mood for romance.

Her latest book , The Lost City of D (featuring her popular protagonists Lovemore and Dash) was as steamy as a cold shower, as sultry as a tax audit. And even though her romances have sold incredibly well, Loretta feels as though The Lost City of D might be her last. Dash can dash off, for all she cares—yellow hair streaming in the sunset—and leave Loretta alone.

But first, she’ll have to participate in one more excruciating book tour—answering the same questions, plastering on the same fake smiles. Worse yet, the tour includes Alan Caprison, the beefy, blond model who—thanks to myriad appearances on Loretta’s book covers—has become synonymous with Dash. In fact, it seems that most of Loretta’s fans actually want to see Alan . And preferably without his shirt.

But as the first stop on the tour winds down, Loretta meets a fan who wants to talk with her . It would’ve been more flattering, perhaps, if the fan (a rich fellow named Fairfax) hadn’t also sent a couple of goons to kidnap her. Fairfax, you see, isn’t that interested in the plot of the Lost City of D : He’s more interested in the actual lost city Loretta wrote about, and the treasure that might be found there.

Fairfax knows that before Loretta became a romance novelist, she was a lost-language specialist: He believes that she based her book on real history. In fact, Fairfax knows it: He found Loretta’s Lost City and now owns the island on which it sits.

But now he needs Loretta’s help. See, somewhere in that archaeological ruin lies the fabled Crown of Fire, a bit of treasure that must be worth ever-so-much. Moreover, he’s uncovered a strip of cloth written in a language lost to everyone but Loretta. He believes that it might—no, it must —point to the fabulous crown. And he needs to retrieve it quickly, before the island’s volcano buries it underneath a few layers of lava.

Loretta politely declines to work with Fairfax, but refusal is not an option. The novelist is promptly chloroformed and whisked off to this island paradise/prison/potential tomb. She’ll help Fairfax: Oh, yes. Fairfax will make sure of it.

It’s just the sort of scenario that Loretta might write about, actually—one she’d neatly resolve with heroic Dash riding in on a white horse, hair gleaming, muscles flexing, gun booming, dimples dimpling.

Alas, Dash isn’t real. But Alan is. Yeah, that’s right: The cover model. Sure, Alan may not have two doctorates or years of martial arts training like Dash. But he is a certified Crossfit trainer, and that counts for something, right?

Positive Elements

So, yes, Alan’s a little out of his depth here. He dives into this adventure despite being allergic to water. (A little dip in a jungle river gives him a serious case of eczema.) But he’s kind of attracted to the author, and he’s willing to put his life on the line to save her. He also turns out to be a pretty decent, kind-hearted fellow, too—not just Dash’s mindless, muscle-bound stand-in. You might say (and the movie actually does) that Loretta learns a bit about not judging book models by their cover. Or something.

Beth, Loretta’s publisher, is equally dedicated to the writer. While she doesn’t come swinging into the jungle like Alan does, she works tirelessly to rescue Loretta—buying tickets, twisting arms, riding goat-laden cargo planes as she tries to track down her star writer. And she gets a little help herself from Adrian, the owner of the aforementioned cargo plane, who aids the party in unexpected ways.

Spiritual Elements

Someone calls Adrian an angel in passing. “How did you know?” he says. Some characters participate in what appears to be a meditation class, and we learn that Alan met a character at a meditation retreat. We hear an exclamation of “Holy Christmas!” We hear a quote attributed to Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism: “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

Sexual Content

Fairfax refers to Loretta as the “sex book writer.” And gathering from the snippets we hear from her books, that feels pretty accurate. Readings are filled with suggestive imagery and titillating verbiage (without crossing the line into straight-up verbal pornography), and Loretta coaches someone on how to pace a book’s erotic elements for full emotional appeal. One night, as she tries to treat the eczema on Alan’s exposed back, Alan asks how she might “write” that scene and make it romantic. Her narration is filled with erotic descriptions and ends with the heroine’s request to have sex.

Loretta and Alan don’t physically replay Loretta’s sensual narration, but (obviously) a mutual attraction does develop between them, and they smooch a time or two. They also, comically, share a hammock. Loretta also sees all of Alan’s anatomy after a leech-infested wade through a river: Alan exposes his buttocks to her (and the camera), and Loretta has to pull leeches off his posterior. He then turns around so she can inspect his crotch: (She makes several comments on what she sees, but the audience doesn’t itself see anything.)

Alan often goes shirtless, and Loretta quips that the model finds an excuse to remove his shirt during every public appearance. (During a mutual appearance during the book tour, the audience convinces Loretta to remove Dash’s shirt for him—though the removal attempt goes awry.) During that same tour stop, Loretta’s publicist forces Loretta to wear what the writer describes as a “glitter onesie.” It reveals quite a bit of cleavage and is quite tight—so much so that Loretta claims the fabric is climbing up into numerous areas. (She wears the outfit for most of the rest of the movie, though the onesie’s leggings eventually are ripped off.) She smuggles a bit of cloth in her own outfit, tucking it between her breast and the onesie’s fabric.

Alan helps Loretta scale a cliff by pushing his head into her crotch (thus helping to push her up). Beth also wears outfits that showcase cleavage. In a physical manifestation of part of Loretta’s book draft, Lovemore and Dash lie next together—and at first it would seem they’re in the throes of post-coital bliss. (That turns out not to be the case.) We hear crass references to body parts and sexual activity, along with both intentional and unintentional double entendres. Loretta takes a bath, and we see her from the shoulders up. Later, in the clutches of bad guys, she exposes her shoulder seductively. She describes herself as a “sapio-sexual,” which she says means that she finds intelligence sexy. Someone calls another woman a “slut” (in what the caller hopes is an affectionate, chummy way).

Violent Content

In a fairly shocking scene—shocking, in part, because of the movie’s PG-13 rating—someone is shot in the head, sending blood and brain matter everywhere. A good bit of the gore seems to land on Alan’s face (including his mouth), and he complains that he can “taste” the victim’s thoughts.

A man falls from a ledge, apparently to his doom. Two others fall off a cliff after crashing into each other on motorcycles. (“Perhaps they’re fine,” Loretta suggests, though that seems unlikely.) Someone is set ablaze via cigar ashes and alcohol. Someone’s knocked off the roof of a moving SUV/tank. A few people are rendered unconscious due to sleeper holds. Others are knocked out during fights, which involve fists and feet and drinking glasses and car doors.

Two people nearly drown. Guns are pointed and sometimes fired. A tomb holds the skeletal remains of two people embracing, and others are nearly buried alive in the same tomb. A volcano threatens the safety of many. A scene in one of Loretta’s books depicts a tomb littered with poisonous snakes. Loretta is overcome by chloroform.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear two uses of the s-word along with several other milder profanities, including “a–,” “crap” and “h—.” God’s name is misused nearly 15 times, and Jesus’ name is abused thrice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

“Why can’t your own personal tank have its own mini-bar?” Fairfax asked. It’s a rhetorical question, of course, because his personal tank has one. He enjoys his whiskey and drinks it often. Others imbibe as well. We see, for instance, a pre-kidnap Loretta sip a glass of iced Chardonnay in the bathtub. Someone smokes a cigar—with unfortunate consequences. (Turns out, smoking really can kill you.)

Other Negative Elements

We hear references to bat feces, and a cave mouth is compared to a “troll anus.” Someone urinates in a body of water. Both Alan and Loretta gag while dealing with leeches. After Loretta kicks a trash can over, she’s appalled with herself for littering.

As Loretta and Alan plot out their next move—trying to decide whether to get off the island or dive deeper into the jungle to find the fabled Crown of Fire—Alan turns to Loretta.

“This is your story,” he tells her. “How do you want to write it?”

Someone might’ve posed the same question to the movie’s screenwriters.

The Lost City can feel a little lost itself. While it always aims to be a romantic adventure comedy, a la 1984’s Romancing the Stone , it swings wildly on its PG-13 pendulum. Though our protagonists rarely kiss and never have sex, Loretta’s raunchy prose and the screenplay’s naughty entendres push this blushingly out of bounds for most families. For much of its runtime, the movie seems to intentionally avoid both death and blood—and then in one shocking moment, that restraint is blown to pieces … along with part of someone’s head, apparently.

With just a little more restraint, The Lost City could’ve been unexpectedly navigable. But because of a handful of scenes, the film is unexpectedly ooky. It’s almost as if the studio received a nice, sweet, funny script and hired Family Guy’ s Seth MacFarlane to handle the rewrites.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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