The Lost City is one of the best movies of 2022 and I’m not afraid to say it. Yes, I’m talking about the movie where Sandra Bullock peels leeches from Channing Tatum’s bare bottom. No, I don’t understand why so-called film critics refused to include this obviously brilliant film in their year-end lists.
listen to me The Lost City– which you can now stream on Prime Video and by the way Outstanding+— is extremely good at being what it tries to be, which is a fun, action-packed, star-studded romantic comedy. The jokes are funny! The action is exciting! The stars are in their element and doing what they do best! I mean, Bullock as the overly smart novelist and Tatum as the cute but simple male model himbo? This is no child’s play.
Directed by the Nee brothers, who also wrote the screenplay with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, the story is just believable enough to pull in and just absurd enough to have a silly laugh. Bullock plays an archaeologist-turned-romance writer named Loretta, who is kidnapped by a billionaire (Radcliffe) after he discovers her books are based on one indeed lost city that could lead to riches. The only person to witness her capture is Alan (Tatum), the Himbo male model who poses for the cover of all of Loretta’s books. He decides to save her. It’s going about as well as you might expect.
Despite the age difference, both Tatum and Bullock are in top form and you’ll absolutely love their chemistry. It’s a genre Bullock is known for (Miss Kongeniality, two weeks’ notice, the proposal, to name a few), and she more than proves she’s still the rom-com queen. Every reaction, every sentence and every facial expression is absolutely perfect. Like the look on her face when confronting Tatum’s “masculinity,” to use a term her character uses in her novels. I laugh when I look at it.
And then there’s Daniel Radcliffe as the insane billionaire with an inferiority complex who proves something Harry Potter Fans already knew it – this little king is damn funny. He’s absolutely off the rails and is clearly having a great time, able to go from polite British boy to angry sociopath in the blink of an eye.
Maybe The Lost City wouldn’t have noticed when this kind of romantic comedy was a dime a dozen. But modern movie audiences aren’t as drawn to these mid-budget games as they were 20 years ago, and I miss them. A lot of. So to see The Lost City Hitting theaters in early 2022 and just knocking this formula out of the park was like rediscovering a favorite recipe from my childhood. Those soothing, familiar beats just hit the spot, you know?
While critics might not have been on board, there were at least some moviegoers who would agree with me, because The Lost City was a financial success. It will likely end up as one of the Top 20 Movies of the year 2022 at the local box office. But I still don’t see enough people giving this film the credit it deserves.
The consensus seems to be that it’s “fine,” “OK,” and “funny enough.” Fool. Don’t you know fantastic cinema when you see it? Don’t you realize how extremely difficult it is to put together a comedy? Not drop dead stupid? The Lost City is a consummate action comedy romance, and for that it deserves credit. Put the Channing Tatum Leech Butt movie on your Best of 2022 lists, cowards.