'The Lost City' review: A romp that should have been a riot

If you are looking for a wacky rom-com with action and stars, The Lost City is for you. Romancing The Stone was a 1984 comedy that was unofficially remaking by two people. This sexually charged adventure is directed by filmmakers who have little idea of what's going on, unlike the irreverent director Robert Zemeckis who gave us such outrageous gems as Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film is fun, but frustratingly fumbling.

The Lost City is similar to Romancing The Stone in that it centers on a romance novelist and a handsome man who dislike each other. The romantic interest is a non-toxically masculine himbo, who is the cover model for her long-running series of romance novels. Imagine a person with a wig. The widow of a man is sick of writing about love conquering all. She was vexed by the flexing and flaunting of her press tour partner Alan. Even if he has no qualifications beyond bravado, Alan rushes to play the hero for real when an eccentric billionaire abducts Loretta as part of his scheme to snatch a mythic crown.

Credit: Paramount Pictures

The premise is that the pair will be in the jungle, where he has luxury lotion and she has a fully-sequined bodysuit. It is a good setup. They are out of their element, fleeing from gun-toting cronies and plunging into the unknown caverns of the lost city. The visual gags are often focused on her outfit contrasting comically to the rugged terrain. Their love adds some spark. She is resistant to romance. Even when it's covered in leeches, Alan slowly wins her over with his golden-retriever energy.

The scenes between the pair crackle just as you would hope, in particular, an argument where Alan proclaims sincerely that he believes a woman can mansplain, and because I am a feminist and believe a woman can do anything.

Comedy can feel like magic when it works because of the charisma of the performer. Look to the editing for what went wrong when comedy doesn't work.

Credit: Paramount Pictures

The audience will catch up to the funnier jokes if they have room to land. Next time you watch a comedy, make sure to notice what the focus of the shot is when a joke is told. The camera focuses on the teller, bolstering the audience's attention to the funny dialogue coming out of their mouth. The camera focuses on the person's reaction to being hit with a punchline, which could be a confused or comical reaction. Either way, the joke and the reaction to it will live in the same frame. The Lost City often chooses none of these paths, opting for a clumsy cut that screams of fixing it in the post.

Daniel Radcliffe has been reduced to a stereotypical posh British douche on three seasons of Miracle Workers. He delivers lines with icky entitlement and a lack of self-awareness that are hilarious. The cut doesn't give his jokes enough room to land. The shot focuses on the person who barely reacts. She is confused by the circumstances of her abduction. This cut speaks to an issue in The Lost City: addiction.

Dialogue written and recorded in post-production is referred to as an additional dialogue replacement. It is often used to punch up jokes in comedies. This device is being abused. The jokester's mouth isn't being shown as they speak, and the onscreen listener has no reaction to what was said. The audience can't find pleasure in the joke because it's nowhere to land. The cut rushes to the next stunt or shenanigan, taking no time to enjoy the journey.

Credit: Paramount Pictures

The Lost City is being directed by Adam and Aaron Nee and co-written by Oren Uziel and Dana Fox. Band of Robbers was a low-budget contemporary goofball comedy that was spun from Mark Twain's tales of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Their follow-up was a mid-budget studio action-comedy with A-list stars. They did not stick the landing. The final cut suggests that the Nees didn't get the footage needed to really make their scripted lines sing and so relied on rewrites in post-production, which leads to a final cut that is often inexplicable and too often falling short of funny.

Don't mistake me. The Lost City is an adventure that is inoffensively entertaining and easy to enjoy. The man is in good shape. Alan is delightful, even though his hero doesn't reach the heights of Chris Hemsworth's side-splitting himbo in Ghostbusters. Smaller supporting roles that bring some edge to the overall tame adventure are what Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, and Brad Pitt do.

The Lost City cruises for a long time on the charm of its stars and stunts, but there are few jokes worth laughing at. It is amusing, but it is not the loud blast that the premise and stars suggest it could have been.

The Lost City opens on March 25.