THE LOST CITY, if you wanted to get snarky, could be called ‘Raiders Of The Proven Plot’ since this 2022 comedy-adventure-romance goes where numerous find-treasure-and-while-doing-so-fall-in-love frolics have tromped before, including winners like Romancing The Stone. Tried, true and—nice surprise—still fun this time, directed & co-written by brothers Adam & Aaron Nee, sharing script credit with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox. “Cheese and rice! ”

‘Loretta Sage’ (Sandra Bullock) archaeology researcher-turned romance novelist, finds herself living an exotic adventure (complete with active volcano) after being kidnapped by ‘Abigail Fairfax’, a cheerfully smug billionaire (there must be a few) who believes the ancient, legendary ‘Crown of Fire’ is somewhere on a isolated Atlantic island. The buffed but boobish ‘Alan Caprison’ (Tatum Channing) the cover model for Loretta’s gaudy book covers (‘Dash McMahon’ to her heroines ‘Dr. Angela Lovemore’) gallantly if clumsily sets out to rescue her. He’s initially aided by ‘Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), zen-cool SEAL & CIA bad-guy-vanquisher. Minions will go down like tenpins, cliffs will be scaled, leech habitats waded, caves spelunked. And we “wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Location-shot in lush portions of the Dominican Republic, the jokes fly at random, most hitting the target, with the actors respective personas tailor-made for the self-kidding. You sense this was not just a payday but a merry assignment for all. One surprise is Daniel Radcliffe as the chief villain; he dials it with precise intensity. ‘Surprise’ isn’t quite fair, as Mr. Radcliffe has repeatedly shown his range since he was a spell-bound nipper.

Made for around $70,000,000, the larking drew decent reviews and grossed $105,300,000 in the USA/Canada (17th place), with $87, 600,000 pulled elsewhere. In spirited support: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nunez and Patti Harrison. 112 minutes.