The Lost City finds winning rom-com formula

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum reliably give viewers the fun time they crave.

The Lost City
Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 112 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Romantic comedy
Why you should watch: Satisfying, classic rom-com. Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum pack sparkling wordplay amidst the foreplay as a romantic novelist and the himbo who appears on her book covers, respectively. The two find themselves facing tropical terrors and ignite credible sparks. Brad Pitt is great in a self-parodying extended cameo and the amusingly droll Daniel Radcliffe could be auditioning to be the next Bond villain.


Unapologetic rom-com The Lost City is the upbeat, fun and unchallenging good time many of us are looking for. You know the formula, it’s a good one and there’s a reason it has endured so long — and camera-blessed stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum do a great job as the bickering couple that eventually, well … you know how it ends.

Bullock plays a hugely successful romantic novelist and Tatum is the hunk who struggles to keep up intellectually with his clever counterpart. Somehow, the titillating twosome find themselves in an exotic tropical locale fending off an evil, criminal mastermind mind — they’re always wealthy right? Gotta finance those elaborate hideouts and instruments of complex killing.

Daniel Radcliffe plays the bad guy so well he could easily be auditioning to be a Bond baddie. He has  the right amount of bizarre logic fueling his “mad” plan and he does all of his dastardly deeds with muted, somewhat absurd dignity. We’re charmed by his class but still rooting for some untimely end, or at least a grand failure, to his evil plan. How dare he try to harm our hot heroes?

Bullock and Tatum have sparkling, amusing wordplay before the foreplay, and I’d be hard-pressed to find a complaint about this fun and frivolous film. They even pull off a bit of a Hollywood miracle and manage to go to a tropical setting without stumbling into any racist depictions of the locals — always a big win for a major movie.

Brad Pitt is hilariously understated and self-parodying in his extended cameo and underlines the “Hollywood doing what it does best” feel to this flick. Load up on the popcorn and settle in for two hours of pleasant distraction. The Lost City won’t change the world, but it will change your mood — for the better.