CINEMA | Sandra Bullock Kidnaps 'The Lost City' of D

"I feel like a nerdy figure skater."

Paramount Pictures

Indie filmmaking brothers Aaron and Adam Nee take their stab at throwback Hollywood studio fare in The Lost City, a jungle adventure-themed screwball romantic comedy in the vein of Romancing the Stone, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Bullock, as the bedazzled sequin jumpsuit adorned ancient artifact researcher turned bestselling romance novelist thrust into action alongside her dim-witted but well-meaning book cover model, dials up the slapstick goofball sense of fun and charm.

Co-starring an energized Daniel Radcliffe as he affable but unhinged businessman kidnapper of Bullock's Loretta who's looking for the titular Lost City of D and a hilarious Brad Pitt as an ex-Navy SEAL operative hired to rescue her in a rare comedic supporting role, the cast of mostly comic actors make the standard yet charming premise work despite some generic plotting.

Full of the usual adventure genre tropes and turns, the serviceable script about looking for lost treasure written by Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, and the Nees lets things breeze along and fly by as our characters are quickly dropped into a mysterious hidden island nation located somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Nees make sure to keep things moving fast and loose.

Bullock and Tatum charm the sequin jumpsuit off The Lost City with the brothers Nee providing some competent entertainment with a winning supporting cast. Everyone makes a meal of what they are given and power through the often flimsy but consistently fun happenings on screen.


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