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 off of Channing Tatum’s bare butt. No, I don’t understand why so-called movie critics have refused to include this obviously genius film on their end-of-year lists.
Hear me out on this one. The Lost City—which, by the way, you can stream right now on Prime Video and Paramount+—is extremely good at being what it’s trying to be, which is a fun-filled, action-packed, star-studded romantic comedy. The jokes are funny! The action is exciting! The stars are in their element doing what they do best! I mean, Bullock as the too-smart-for-this-bullshit romance author and Tatum as the sweet-but-simple male model himbo? That’s no-brainer casting right there.
The story—which was directed by the Nee brothers, who also co-wrote the script with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox—is just believable enough for you to get on board, and just absurd enough for you to laugh yourself silly. Bullock stars as an archeologist-turned-romance-novelist named Loretta who finds herself kidnapped by a billionaire (Radcliffe) after he realizes her books are based on an actual lost city that could lead to riches. The only person who witnesses her capture is Alan (Tatum), the himbo male model who poses for the cover of all of Loretta’s books. He decides to rescue her. It goes about as well as you might expect.
Despite the age difference, both Tatum and Bullock are in top form, and will absolutely sell you on their chemistry. It’s a genre Bullock is known for (Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, The Proposal, just to name a few), and she more than proves that she’s still the rom-com queen. Every reaction, line delivery, and facial expression is pitch-perfect. Like, for example, her expression when she comes face-to-face with Tatum’s “manhood,” to use a term her character uses in her novels. I’m laughing just looking at it.
And then there’s Daniel Radcliffe as the maniacal billionaire with an inferiority complex, who proves what Harry Potter fans already knew—that short king is freakin’ funny. He’s absolutely unhinged, and clearly having a blast, able to flip from polite British boy to raging sociopath in the blink of an eye.
Perhaps The Lost City wouldn’t have stood out back when these kinds of romantic comedies were a dime a dozen. But modern movie audiences aren’t drawn to these mid-budget romps the way they were 20 years ago, and I miss them. A lot. So to see The Lost City barrel into theaters in early 2022 and just absolutely knock this formula out of the park was like rediscovering a favorite recipe from my childhood. Those comforting, familiar beats just hit the spot, you know?
Though critics may not have been on board, there were at least some moviegoers who agreed with me, because The Lost City was a financial success. It will likely end up as one of the top 20 films of 2022 at the domestic box office. But I still don’t see enough people giving this movie the credit it deserves.
The consensus seems to be that it’s “fine,” “OK,” and “funny enough.” Fools. Do you not know fantastic cinema when you see it? Do you not realize how exceedingly difficult it is to pull off a comedy that’s not mind-numbingly stupid? The Lost City is a perfect action-comedy romance, and it deserves to be recognized for that. Put the Channing Tatum leech butt movie on your Best of 2022 lists, cowards.
