Aaron Nee
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With just one more (maybe two) punch-ups, The Lost City could have been a sweet and salty screwball adventure in the vein of its obvious inspirations: the twin 1980s hits Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile.
Then, for course, there's Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner which The Lost City borrows heavily from with an obvious nod to its source when one of the book tours is called "Romancing the Page."
In a setup and general vibe that reminded me of films like Romancing the Stone , The Lost City tells the story of frustrated romance novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock), who has had her greatest and longest success writing the adventures of the same hero character, Dash, whose old-fashioned adventures have made up a series of books that Loretta is looking to wrap up with her latest title.
After 1951’s The African Queen set the standard for adventure-romances by uniting its era’s biggest stars on a high-stakes trip, and 1984’s Romancing the Stone parlayed the same concept into a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, many filmmakers have tried to replicate the formula.
More in line with the mood of the Jumanji reboots than the rom-com 1980s adventures it channels, whether Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films or the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner films Romancing the Stone (1984) and Jewel of the Nile (1985), there’s enough oddness to creep in around predictable facets.
This romantic action adventure, in theaters, pulls its inspiration from Romancing the Stone (1984), but it injects enough originality to make the implausible film a treat for audiences weary of Hollywood’s sequel-reboot cycle.
There aren’t just echoes of “Romancing the Stone” in the film but also borrowed bits from “Miss Congeniality” (Bullock’s character doesn’t know how to navigate fashion) and “21 Jump Street” (Tatum’s character says dumb things only to be corrected by smarter people baffled by his idiocy).
Bullock channels her Miss Congeniality comedic chops for a slapstick performance that shows she isn’t afraid of looking silly.
A deliriously madcap combination of laughs, guilty pleasures and jungle foliage, The Lost City is what would happen if Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and Miss Congeniality conceived a love child on a Jumanji board.
Even when the film (accidentally or on purpose, it’s hard to say) references her iconic stumble from Miss Congeniality, it’s still a treat to see how Bullock takes these tools and wields them like Chaplin with his cane and bowler hat.
It reminds us why we fell in love with her back in her Miss Congeniality days.
Their chemistry and performances are a stern reminder of some of the two’s best comedic performances in Miss Congeniality , Two Weeks Notice , 21, and 22 Jump Street.
With just one more (maybe two) punch-ups, The Lost City could have been a sweet and salty screwball adventure in the vein of its obvious inspirations: the twin 1980s hits Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile.
We’ve seen all varieties of attempts to recreate it since its blockbuster release, from Lewis Teague’s 1985 sequel The Jewel of the Nile , to Ivan Reitman's Six Days Seven Nights , to Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise (which, you’ll remember, just hit theaters last year).
One reason that film’s 1985 sequel The Jewel of the Nile was so disappointing was that it didn’t follow in its predecessor’s footsteps as closely as it should have.
But it’s a damn sight better than its sequel, The Jewel of the Nile!
Romancing the Stone was enjoyable, but hackneyed, and that franchise played out after the less-successful sequel, The Jewel of the Nile .
After 1951’s The African Queen set the standard for adventure-romances by uniting its era’s biggest stars on a high-stakes trip, and 1984’s Romancing the Stone parlayed the same concept into a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, many filmmakers have tried to replicate the formula.
This includes an encounter with leeches that goes far beyond anything Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn had to deal with in “The African Queen.”
Harrison Ford and Anne Heche are much funnier in Six Days, Seven Nights as were Humphrey Bogart and Kathryn Hepburn in The African Queen.
This type of story has been done countless times, perhaps most notably in films like The African Queen and Romancing the Stone , but that doesn’t mean there aren’t simple pleasures to be found within.
A surface-level skim of Robert Zemeckis’ now-enshrined 1984 classic Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner (itself a bit of a skim of The African Queen starring Hepburn and Bogart, no first names required), The Lost City manages to make Zemeckis’ film feel dark and gritty in retrospect.
Along the way, the comedy parodies everything from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to “The African Queen” and of course, the aforementioned “Stone” as Channing Tatum provides the bulk of comic relief as Fabio-like model Alan who graces the covers of Loretta’s novels dressed as Dash her handsome protagonist.
Directed by brothers Adam and Aaron Nee, who collaborated on the script with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, "The Lost City" owes its most direct debt to "Romancing the Stone" but recalls any number of romantic pairings in exotic locales, a la "Six Days, Seven Nights."
Their modern sense of humor goes down way easier than Bullock and Tatum retreading 1998’s miserable “Six Days Seven Nights” with whiny Anne Heche and Harrison Ford.
We’ve seen all varieties of attempts to recreate it since its blockbuster release, from Lewis Teague’s 1985 sequel The Jewel of the Nile , to Ivan Reitman's Six Days Seven Nights , to Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise (which, you’ll remember, just hit theaters last year).
Two big stars, lush greenery, cascading waterfalls: if you've seen "Romancing the Stone," "Six Days Seven Nights" or any number of jungle-set romantic comedy adventures, you already know the drill with "The Lost City."
“The Lost City” is completely harmless as it attempts to revisit past-generation romantic comedy/action adventures such as the aforementioned “Stone,” “Six Days, Seven Nights,” “King Solomon’s Mines,” “The Mummy” and of course “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it’s so cartoonishly over the top that it bears no resemblance to anything that could ever happen in the real world.
However, other such attempts like Fool's Gold or Six Days Seven Nights failed much harder, so "good enough" might be enough for The Lost City.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced The Lost City (2022)
Themes Characters Plot
In the past year, Jungle Cruise, Red Notice, and Uncharted have all attempted to dig into the thrills, laughs, and even romance akin to Raiders of the Lost Ark or Romancing the Stone .
Even Radcliffe, the erstwhile Harry Potter who receives a really nifty villainous opening, veers one-dimensional as Fairfax, the awkward millennial version of Belloq from "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Aaron Nee: We obviously grew up on those popcorn films that everybody loves, ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark and films like them.
“The Lost City” is completely harmless as it attempts to revisit past-generation romantic comedy/action adventures such as the aforementioned “Stone,” “Six Days, Seven Nights,” “King Solomon’s Mines,” “The Mummy” and of course “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it’s so cartoonishly over the top that it bears no resemblance to anything that could ever happen in the real world.
To simplify things, just imagine a mix-and-mismatch version of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Romancing the Stone.”
It’s clear that someone involved in the making of this movie is a fan of Robert Zemeckis’s 1984 romp “Romancing the Stone,” one of several adventure pastiches made in the wake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
(We hope the Working Girl namecheck is an intentional nod to Harrison Ford.)
There are several scenes where Bullock’s facial reactions reminded me of Jim Carrey in scenes from Dumb & Dumber and Liar Liar .
There are several scenes where Bullock’s facial reactions reminded me of Jim Carrey in scenes from Dumb & Dumber and Liar Liar .
What follows is a hilarious screwball adventure-comedy that will evoke memories for certain generations of both Romancing the Stone (especially with its use of ‘80s hits like Spandau Ballet’s True and Pat Benatar’s Shadows of the Night ) and Nim’s Island .
Yet it is so much more than that; part Nim’s Island , part The Lego Movie , a bit Dora and the Lost City of Gold and obviously a lot Indy ; the real secret to The Lost City’s appeal is the winning charm of its cast.
Viewers old enough to remember “Romancing the Stone” and the Indiana Jones movies — heck, anyone with passing familiarity with screwball rom-coms a la “It Happened One Night” — will recognize the broad contours of “The Lost City,” which spoofs and pays homage to its predecessors with equally playful enthusiasm.
Such deficiencies might have been compensated for by sparkling dialogue, but that doesn’t happen; the unfunny rants handed to Radcliffe’s smirking Fairfax are a signal case in point, but the banter between Loretta and Alan never approaches an “It Happened One Night” level.
When the characters compare the danger they're in to other movies, that sort of banter was done better in Spy.
Still, I imagine that “The Lost City,” like “Spy” from a few years ago, will only get better with repeat viewings.
Building its legacy on the backs of “Romancing the Stone” with a little help from “Indiana Jones” and, to a lesser extent, the Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey vehicle “Fool’s Gold,” Aaron and Adam Nee’s “The Lost City” deserves some credit.
It probably has more in common with a movie like Fool’s Gold , although at least Tatum, Bullock and Pitt give it their all.
However, other such attempts like Fool's Gold or Six Days Seven Nights failed much harder, so "good enough" might be enough for The Lost City.
The premise of Argylle has echoes of the 1984 comedy Romancing the Stone, in which Kathleen Turner stars as a romance novelist named Joan who gets swept up in an adventure that seems ripped from her book's pages. (See also the Sandra Bullock romp The Lost City). Along the way, Joan fights and then falls in love with a rugged rogue named Jack (Michael Douglas).
While The Lost City's Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) might not have a cat she's devoted to the way Elly is (another extremely gimmicky element of the movie), she embodies, for all intents and purposes, the same “lonely cat lady” trope.
She's like if Jason Bourne were a cat lady, or if the Sandra Bullock vehicle “The Lost City” were less funny.
Loretta takes the stage with her longtime be-wigged, dimwitted and Fabio-like cover model Dash—real name Alan (Channing Tatum)—who makes his entrance to the sounds of the bombastic stadium rocker “The Final Countdown,” and I guess we’re supposed to take that as an homage to Will Arnett as Gob already mining that particular routine to perfection in “Arrested Development”?
The Lost City is capable enough to step into the void and take advantage of the way films like The Mummy have become less common, but it isn’t so striking or memorable that it’s likely to usher in a new era of treasure-hunting capers.
If you wish more movies were like the 1999 version of The Mummy or enjoyed Romancing The Stone , this is the film for you.
Let’s get this out of the way: “The Lost City” is essentially a remake of 1984’s “Romancing the Stone.”
Of course, not many people could forget the romance between the rich guy and the prostitute in Pretty Woman or Baby (Jennifer Grey; Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze; Roadhouse) dirty dancing in the Poconos.
It’s “Indiana Jones”-meets-“Jurassic Park,” and while “The Lost City” doesn’t bring anything new to the rom-com genre, the script is clever enough that the movie feels fresh, not derivative.
Prior to this wide release starring Bullock, Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, and a few clutch scenes with Brad Pitt, they released an $18,000 indie called The Last Romantic that hit festivals in 2008, and then some Comedy Central pilots. (Next up for them is a reworked Masters Of The Universe .)