“The Lost City” has some laugh-out-loud comedic moments and some interesting plot twists. Buoyed by the strong performances of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, this crowd-pleasing movie also is enhanced by a good cast of supporting characters.

Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is a successful adventure-romance novelist who is still grieving the death of her archaeologist husband after several years. Although she is burned out from writing a series based on a real site that her husband was searching for, a series of pestering phone calls from her publisher, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) propel her to finally finish her latest installment.

Beth and Loretta’s social media manager Allison (Patti Harrison) have arranged a book tour stop. They dress Loretta up in a sequined jumpsuit for her appearance with the cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum). He has appeared as Dash, the male protagonist, on every cover of the series.

Loretta laments that at these events all the audience wants is for Dash to take his shirt off. When he comes on stage looking like Fabio, Loretta becomes annoyed with him. She manages to pull off his wig to the shock of the audience and the event abruptly ends.

Wanting just to leave, Loretta goes outside to wait for a ride. When a car arrives, another man scoots in beside her. It becomes clear that she is being kidnapped as Alan watches her being whisked away.

She is escorted into a long room with her favorite cheeses on display. Abigail (a gender-neutral name, we are assured) Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) shows her a piece of parchment with hieroglyphic-style characters on it. He asks Loretta to translate it based on the work which she and her husband did on the Lost City of D.

Loretta cannot immediately translate it. Fairfax offers her a deal to work with him on the effort to uncover the secrets of the Lost City, but Loretta refuses. She is then drugged and placed on a private plane.

When she awakens, Fairfax informs her that he has discovered the Lost City of D on a remote Atlantic island. After arriving at the archaeological dig, Fairfax has Loretta zip-tied to a chair in front of a table in a tent. She is told to translate the parchment.

Meanwhile Alan, Beth and Pratt are frantic about Loretta’s disappearance and possible abduction. Alan suggests contacting his old meditation guru Jack Trainer, who used to be a Navy SEAL. They have tracked Loretta to the Atlantic island and Jack arranges to meet Alan there.

When Alan arrives at the airport, he meets Jack (Brad Pitt) who makes Alan look like a lightweight. Driving a blue minicar, Jack tells Alan to stay with the car as he makes his way to the dig site. Of course Alan disobeys and follows him.

Jack and Alan reach her tent with Jack doing all of the subduing of guards while Alan bungles along. They put Loretta and her chair into a wheelbarrow and flee the site while pre-planted explosives go off.

As Jack is cutting the zip-ties to Loretta’s chair, his head is blown off by Fairfax’s team. Alan puts Loretta, chair and all, into the minicar and the chase is on.

I had very low expectations for this picture. The trailer made it seem like a modern-day “Romancing the Stone.” But the movie exceeds expectations through a well-written, sometimes thoughtful, screenplay.

For example, at one juncture of the film, Alan asks Loretta who she thinks he is. She comes up with a reasonably exact precis of his life story. While Alan acknowledges that much of this is true, he also points out that being a cover model brings happiness to the lives of many people. He thinks that is a pretty positive thing to do. This silences Loretta.

The subplots involving Beth’s attempts to get the police involved and to rescue Loretta by going to the island are very funny. Along the way, she meets a pilot, Oscar (Oscar Nunez), who has a favorite goat and provides a perfect counterpart for Beth.

The picture starts slowly but picks up as soon as the escape with Loretta, Jack and Alan occurs. In the subsequent pursuit of Alan and Loretta through the jungle, their characters become more developed while the comedic moments, such as leeches being pulled from a naked Alan, take place.

While Meryl Streep is someone who can play Any Woman, Sandra Bullock’s skill is in playing Every Woman characters. Whether it is in “The Blind Side,” “Bird Box,” or “Gravity,” she comes off as natural and real in her emotional responses.

Channing Tatum has matured over time. Here he is able to show off his considerable comedic skills and be a flawed leading man.

The only false acting note is in the performance by Daniel Radcliffe as Fairfax. Whether at the director’s request or his own initiative, he over-emotes to the point of caricature.

The beautiful scenery of the Dominican Republic provides a breathtaking backdrop in the jungle scenes. The cinematography is gorgeous and adds significantly to the story’s sense of place. Even the small Spanish town is nicely rendered.

The final denouement about the treasure is one of the best twists of the movie. I also appreciated the way that the romance between Alan and Loretta’s character was a gradual development and not a blazing passion that arises out of nowhere.

I think that younger children would be bored by the talky beginnings of the picture. Even in the chase scenes on the island, there are sequences of dialogue that slow the pace enough to be disinteresting to this age group. This seems clearly a movie aimed at teens and adults.

I was never bored and found the characters, except for Fairfax, delightfully limned. Combined with a good sense of adventure and comedy, I rate this film four stars. Stay for the surprising mid-credits scene.

Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Channing Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.” While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. 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. Thrust into an epic jungle adventure, the unlikely pair will need to work together to survive the elements and find the ancient treasure before it’s lost forever.

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nuñez, Patti Harrison, Bowen Yang
Directed by: Adam Nee and Aaron Nee
Screenplay by: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee, Aaron Nee