Movie Monday: The Lost City

I've been pretty badly crashed all week (and much of the last two weeks), so our holiday weekend was very low-key. I wrote that blog post about having fun on Saturday, and I'd hoped to maybe take a short hike with my husband or get together with friends for dinner, but I was in rough shape. So, on Sunday, we decided to watch a movie--in the middle of the day! Normally, I look for award winners, check reviews and viewer's ratings, etc. This time, I just wanted something light and fun. I always enjoy actress Sandra Bullock, so I chose her latest movie, The Lost City, and it delivered.

Bullock plays Loretta Sage, a reclusive romance writer. Loretta writes a series of romance novels about a female archeologist, Dr. Angela Lovemore (yup. laughing yet?). Lovemore's romantic interest in the novels is Dash McMahon, and ever since the first book, a handsome man named Alan (played by Channing Tatum) has been the cover model, so that millions of fans think of Alan as Dash. Sales have started lagging, though, so Loretta's editor, Beth (played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph) wants both Loretta and Alan to go on a huge book tour to promote the latest addition to the series. Loretta is clearly depressed and unused to being in public; she actually did work as an archeologist with her late husband and has been isolated since his death. After their first stop (a hilarious scene where they dress timid Loretta in a sequined jumpsuit and Alan arrives with a Fabio-esque head of hair to great fanfare), things immediately go wrong as they travel on, and Loretta is kidnapped. An evil narcissist named Abigail Fairfax (played amusingly by Daniel Radcliffe) wants Loretta to decode ancient hieroglyphs from the lost tribe in Loretta's new book (which was based on real-life work she did) and find the priceless treasure buried in a long-lost tomb. He flies her out to the island where he has found the tribe's lost village. Alan saw Loretta get kidnapped, but the police refuse to do anything until 24 hours have passed. Alan calls in an ex-military trainer he knows, played by Brad Pitt, to help rescue Loretta (who's wearing a tracker device), and the two follow her and her captor to the island. As you might have guessed, Alan is nothing like the capable, heroic man he portrays from the books. Finally, Beth also joins the search, so that they are all on the island, racing against time.

In case you couldn't tell by the description, this is a very silly story, though it pays tribute to adventure-romance novels. The characters are over-the-top, the story is twisty, and there is a lot of action. It is all a whole lot of fun, which was just what we wanted! We were laughing right from the beginning. The actors all do a great job of inhabiting their larger-than-life characters, and Loretta and Alan get plenty of serious, poignant moments, too, so it's not all just farce. The Lost City was filled with laugh-out-loud humor, plenty of action and suspense, and--of course--some romance, too. It was the perfect entertaining choice for a sick day!

The Lost City is currently available on Amazon Prime and Paramount+ for free, and all the usual places where you can buy videos on demand.