Film Review – Ghosted (2023)
Anybody would think Chris Evans and Ana de Armas had ambitions to be the latest in a long line of cinema double acts. They started in comedy with the delicious Knives Out (2019), moved on to espionage action in The Gray Man (2022) and now, for their third outing, Ghosted, they’re still among spies, but their characters are romantically linked as well. Is there no end to their versatility? Sadly, there is.
This time Evans is a likeable farmer who’s a sap when it comes to love and has no idea of texting etiquette. It’s cost him several girlfriends but when he meets the glamorous and enigmatic Sadie (de Armas), his luck seems to have changed. One long romantic date later, he’s smitten, texting her non-stop – and the silence from her is deafening. Finding out that she’s in London, he decides on making the ultimate romantic gesture and sets off in search of a second date, only to find when that she’s not exactly told him the truth about her line of work. She’s actually a secret agent, trying to prevent a deadly explosive getting into the wrong hands and things only get worse when the bad guys mistake Evans for the mysterious Taxman, who holds the key to the device.
The team behind the film is impressive. Dexter Fletcher, director of the likes of Rocketman and Eddie The Eagle, makes his first venture into romantic action/comedy, while the screenplay comes with a mouth-watering pedigree. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who scripted both Deadpool movies, plus Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the writers behind the most recent incarnation of Spider-Man, have pooled their talents to create what was intended to be a wise-cracking piece of romantic/action fun. But they’re way off-target, with a routine plot, the mandatory exotic locations and dialogue where just a handful of the jokes manage to land. The running gags simply aren’t worth the effort and there’s a very strong sense of something created by committee. They’ve even tried to take inspiration from classic screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby, where the inevitably shy and awkward man is constantly overshadowed by the more extrovert and resourceful woman. But it’s enough to make a certain leopard growl.
De Armas, as we all know, has a knack for high-kicking action and the film makes good use of it, especially when she’s wearing one of her collection of lbd’s. Evans, however, hardly gets a look-in when it comes to flexing his considerable muscles, something of a comedown after the role that made his name. The storyline, and the film as a whole, is dependent on the chemistry between the pair, which needs to be not just entertaining but also convincing. The script doesn’t help but the truth is that, while they worked well on a platonic level in their previous two films, the sparks fly much too rarely for us to be captivated in the way that we should be. They’re better off staying just good friends.
As a last-ditch attempt to lift the action, Fletcher and company have relied on the most conventional way of adding some excitement – a cluster of celebrity cameos – and they’re all-too short lived. It’s sad to see so much talent poured into what is essentially an undemanding project that not only fails to live up to them but which deserves little more than an audience response to match the title.
★
Romance, Action, Adventure | Apple TV+, 21 April 2023 | Apple Original | Cert: 15 | Dir: Dexter Fletcher | Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Mike Moh, Amy Sedaris, Tate Donovan.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
About the Author
