I was gifted tickets to a media preview of this movie. All opinions are my own

 

 

Laughter truly is the best medicine. I was so excited to have a movie where you can grab your girlfriends, have snacks, admire how attractive Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum are and just turn your brain off for a bit. While this movie definitely would be categorized as a romantic comedy, I was really surprised at how funny it was and how many action sequences there were. A few of the jump scares even got me really good in the theatre. It really reminded me of a mix between Spy and Jumanji. This is something that you could drag someone who isn’t a fan of rom-coms to and they would enjoy it. This movie is doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel or make you focus on a complicated backstory you can really sit back and enjoy the ride. This movie was funny and action packed but a little light on the romance.

The movie follows brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) who has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels while she would have preferred to write about anthropology in a more serious context. She is mourning the loss of her great love while trying to find a passion for writing again. She struggled to find the passion to finish her latest Lovemore and Dash book and phoned in the ending a bit. Much to her fan base and publicist Beth ( Da’Vine Joy Randolph) dismay she was less than interested in continuing the series and struggled to be passionate about the book during the first stop in the book tour. She was joined by her handsome cover model and fan favourite Alan (Channing Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.”  While on tour promoting her new book, The Lost City of D, with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire, Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. Alan witnesses her kidnapping and wanting to prove that he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her. He reaches out to Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) to help save the day. Loretta doesn’t exactly have confidence in Alan’s abilities and isn’t exactly thrilled with him trying to play the real life leading man like he does in her stories. Loretta, her pink sequin jumpsuit, Alan, and Jack set off into the jungle trying to escape Abigail and his antics. Beth on the other hand is left to try to get to them on own with several less than desirable travel methods.

Fun Fact: Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum originally met because their kids were not getting along in pre-school. That could also be the meet-cute of a rom-com.

Let me know in the comments what your favourite Sandra Bullock movie is?