Directed by Aaron Nee and Adam Nee (The Last Romantic; Band of Robbers) and starring Sandra Bullock (Gravity; The Blind Side; Miss Congeniality; Bird Box), Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street; Foxcatcher; Magic Mike; The Hateful Eight), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; The Woman in Black; Now You See Me 2) and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood; The Big Short; 12 Years a Slave; Moneyball).
Comedy adventure drama; 112 mins; 12+
Romance novelist Loretta (Sandra Bullock) has lost her husband, an archaeologist, and lacks motivation to write, is despondent and reclusive and even struggles to leave her home. However, her agent encourages her to write and start a book tour along with Alan (Channing Tatum) who is the cover model of the character Dash in her books (the latest one being "The Lost City of D"). All the (all-female) audience wants is for him to rip off his shirt, akin to his character in the books. Loretta has had enough and leaves; however, she is kidnapped by Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), who explains his gender-neutral name when introducing himself to Loretta.
He is extremely wealthy and is fixated upon discovering the "Crown of Fire" which he believes to be a long-lost treasure. He believes that the hieroglyphs in her novel and directly linked with his treasure hunt. Meanwhile, Alan reaches out to Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) for help and together they go off to find and rescue Loretta.
The film may struggle to get off the ground but, once they are on the island and start to traipse around the jungle, it starts to gain momentum, not only with the jokes but also with the storyline / plot and the action. The setting is fabulous (most filming was done in the Dominican Republic), but the comedy is more chuckling than roaring with laughter. In many ways, it is an old-fashioned, sentimental romantic comedy adventure, with echoes of Romancing the Stone. Not at all sloppy, not sleazy either, but good clean family fun.
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum perform well against each other, but it is Daniel Radcliffe at his best, this time playing a villain, at times deranged. Brad Pitt's character is a bit strange; for a moment it looked as if there was going to be a three-way love triangle.
Paramount Pictures did well to get a big-budget comedy to cinema screens (just) in time for Easter audiences. A family film that comes at the right times (post-pandemic, spring).
Currently being screened at Kinepolis in Luxembourg, also CiNextDoor.
