The Lost City of D

Let’s be clear, right up front. The Lost City is ridiculous. Sandra Bullock is a washed out romance novelist who gets kidnapped on her book tour by evil Harry Potter—I mean, Daniel Radcliffe—an eccentric billionaire on a quest to find the buried treasure she describes in her latest book. And the only one who can save her is, wait for it, the wannabe-Fabio cover model from her novels. Also known as Magic Mike. I MEAN, Channing Tatum. (Sorry.) 

Photo: Paramount Pictures

This is why I review books rather than movies. I have a very hard time separating fictional characters from real people. Which is basically the premise of this movie. What is fact? What is fiction? Why is Brad Pitt so handsome? (Actual reply from the film: “My father was a weatherman.”)

And speaking of handsome, let the record show that Sandra Bullock and Brad Pitt are roughly the same age (57 and 58, respectively), and Sandy looks amazing. She traipses through the jungle in a skin tight sequined fuchsia body suit for most of the movie, and all I can say is, kudos, lady. You have earned that long, long gaze at Magic Mike's butt. (Not sorry.)

The title of the romance novel at the center of the plot is The Lost City of D, an adult humor riff on the best-selling non-fiction book, The Lost City of Z, by David Grann. That story of a British explorer who disappeared in 1925 while searching for a lost city in the Amazon was also adapted to film in 2016.

Sadly, Paramount opted to sanitize the title of The Lost City, much to Channing Tatum's chagrin. If only the smash success of Wet Leg's Chaise Longue single had come a few months earlier, those execs might have been a little more into "the big D."

So, yes, The Lost City is ridiculous, but it's also feel-good and funny and a great escape from the real world. Which is exactly what a good romcom—novel or film—should deliver.