Ghosted Review
It's acceptable for a movie to just be a romance. Ghosted completely misses that point and instead takes the action way, messing up its main connection in the process. The romantic comedy Ghosted, which was directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Erik Sommers, and Chris McKenna, is a dull waste of time since it is too preoccupied with its spy plotline to be considered remotely enjoyable. The movie, which suffers from an identity issue, isn't worth your time when even its protagonists have little to no on-screen chemistry and the romantic comedy element is scarcely addressed.
Cole Turner (Chris Evans), a farmer who enjoys both history and agriculture, has postponed writing his book because he had to return to the Washington, DC, area to care for his dying father. He can also come out as needy in relationships, at least in the eyes of his family. Cole is instantly smitten with Sadie Rhodes (Ana de Armas) after meeting her at the neighborhood farmer's market and going on their first date. But when he doesn't hear from her, he makes the decision to visit London and surprise her when she's away on business. Sadly for him, Cole is taken hostage by a group of men commanded by Leveque (Adrien Brody) under the pretense that he is the "Taxman," who possesses the code to a weapon that would destroy the Eastern United States. Sadie is soon revealed to be a CIA agent, and Cole rapidly realizes that he is in much over his head.
Ghosted doesn't have much to offer. The action is excessive and superfluous, which stifles and overshadows the romance. The movie makes an effort to put its major characters in challenging circumstances, but it comes off as facile, and the outcomes are neither worthwhile nor sincere. Ghosted would not have had to rely on a flimsy action plot to keep things entertaining if there had been a more serious effort to focus the love parts, but it wastes all sincerity by substituting action set pieces that irritate and detract from the primary relationship.
Georgetown and other Washington, DC landmarks are used effectively in the movie Ghosted, but that's about it. De Armas and Evans have, at most, mediocre chemistry, and while there are times when their dynamic suggests promise for more, the screenplay is completely uninspired and uninterested in going past the surface of their connection. Everything in the narrative is stacked against their characters, making it unlikely that you will care about them as people, never alone as a relationship. The movie makes such a valiant effort to be cool that it fails to elicit any emotion other than annoyance.
Despite its title, the movie is more of a spy thriller than a romantic comedy. There are a few thought-provoking conversations about being ghosted, dating in general, and even miscommunication, but they are abruptly ended and lost in the turmoil of the action-packed plot, which is irritating. The script is weak and even the actors, who are normally endearing in other roles, are unable to make it sound nice. It is clear that there are too many chefs in the kitchen. There are several appearances in Ghosted, but they don't add to the entertainment value of the movie in any way.
Ghosted is a chance lost. It possesses all the components necessary to produce an entertaining, compelling romantic comedy as a whole. However, the writers' decision to focus too much on the action turned what could have been a likable movie into a puzzlingly awful one. The spy subplot is mechanical, the performers don't work well together as you might anticipate, and the story lacks genuine romance, humor, or heart. All things considered, Ghosted fails to even come close to becoming a reasonably acceptable romantic comedy, which is frustrating given the talent involved.
