"The Lost City" - Review

Loretta Sage (Sandra "Sandy B" Bullock) is a reclusive author, housbound after the death of her beloved husband, who now writes the supremely popular "Dr Lovemore" romance novels, full of adventure and bodice-ripping enticement between her and the sexy "Dash McMahon" (Channing "Channy T" Tatum). But when she fumbles a book tour she is not particularly interested in, Sage is kidnapped by men working for telemogul billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel "Raddy D" Radcliffe), who has found a clue in her latest novel which may lead him to a long lost city of "D", and he wants her to translate it for him, and will not be taking "no" for an answer. Now Dash's model "Alan Caprison" (also Channing Tatum) takes it upon himself to follow her to the jungle and rescue her. Shenanigans ensue.

This is a perfectly fun, 2000s-esque movie which does its job admirably. Sandra Bullock is always welcome in movies, and can carry this sort of movie in her sleep. She has some fun moments of physical comedy, and plays the part of "prickly, coming out of her shell introvert" very well. She's Sandy B! She can do anything! Tatum is having fun sending up his "lovable hunk doofus" persona, and Radcliffe steals the show as the cheery and upbeat villain of the piece, relishing the chance to (as he seems to always be doing now) continue his trend of weird projects to take on. Patti Harrison gets the best laugh as the social media manager for Sage and her team (calling her agent's elderly grandmother "slut" in an attempt to befriend her, and frequently doing cringe-worthy attempts to be "down with the kids") and I enjoyed her in this. It's somewhat refreshing that it's not attempting to follow modern day trends and plays it safe: it's fun, it's amiable and likeable as a movie. Personally I wanted it to have more energy, a frantic kind perhaps, or to be more vulgar, but you'll get exactly what you want out of this cheery and completely inoffensive little piece. It's no "Romancing the Stone" (referenced early on, to get that out of the way), but its characters are sweet enough to endear themselves to you and have a fun time with things.