The Lost City

 

When Aaron and Adam Nee's The Lost City is funny, which it often is, it is VERY funny. It also has some pretty leaden bits -- but none of them involve stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, who keep this trifle of a rom-com afloat with their sure chemistry and splendiferous comic timing.

Bullock plays a blocked and secluded writer of adventure romances who is grieving the loss of her archaeologist-husband, the man who kept her stories grounded and authentic. Tatum plays the studly cover model for her books, who has become a fan favorite on book tours, much to the author's chagrin.

Over the course of a few days, Bullock's Loretta gets kidnapped by a treasure hunter (a spritely Daniel Radcliffe) who believes her most recent book contains keys to a lost kingdom of riches in the Atlantic. Tatum's cover model Alan attempts a rescue aided by an even studlier extractor played by Brad Pitt. And the whole crew is pursued by Loretta's publisher (the larger-than-life Da'Vine Joy Randolph).

Yes, much of the story is Raiders retread but the movie works because of pure cheek and silliness, even though the last reel does offer some riffs on those things that are really important in life.

Fifty-eight-year-old Bullock, who is one of the film's producers, will surely get rousing rounds of "you go girls" as her character shakes off self-pity, scales a mountain, outsmarts the bad guys and merengues with her 40-year-old Magic Mike in an island village.