This screen play doesn’t even attempt to hide the copying from Romancing The Stone with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, but that’s fine, a good idea can work over and over.
The overall theme evolves from what is clear from the beginning, that Alan/Dash (a cover model played by Channing Tatum) and Loretta (a romance-adventure novelist played by Sandra Bullock) who initially do not like each other will, after bumping into each other, traveling through lakes ,a dangerous jungle and sleeping in a hammock to keep warm are going to become an item by the time the story raps.
Chasing the The Lost City which was filmed in the Dominican Republic, under the forced direction of Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) who lusts for the jeweled crown which he believes is hidden in a true The Lost City. He believes it can be located by Loretta because her book research has discovered a piece of directions to the city which she included in her novel.
The background is the search for the The Lost City but the story is the growing comic relationship between the two stars. In the first scenes we find Loretta is resistant to participating in the usual promotional circuit which is arranged by her publicist Beth, (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Beth has Loretta in what Loretta calls a sequenced filled purple onesie. Bullock skillfully smiles for the audience but we see her resistance in her facial smirk. Forced to smile with the book cover model (Tatum) she destroys her image by accidently pulling off his long blond locks and causing him to fall from the stage.
Shortly after the event she is kidnapped by Fairfax (Radcliffe) and Tatum is on the trail to help her but his macho look is an illusion and he hires Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) a true trained jungle fighter to protect him and Loretta. Pitt steals the show in his short appearance on screen, by taking out many of bad guy Radcliffe’s storm troopers.
The comedy and the film shines in the early going. The very little blue car they are driving falls off a cliff, Tatum’s character is attacked by leeches (all over his body) requiring Loretta to carefully remove each one on various parts of his anatomy.
The film levels off quickly, it continues with the story but the best comedy is used up mostly in the early going, and the The Lost City when found is not as exciting as special effects could have created.
Even with some limitations The Lost City gives us a traditional comedy between a man and a woman who learn to care about each other while fighting off outside battles that get in their way. Visit the The Lost City for the fun.