Ghosted review: A bland formulaic action comedy that not even Adrien Brody can save

2/5

Story: Cole Turner, a hopeless romantic, is heartbroken after his latest breakup. But a chance encounter with a young woman named Sadie at one of his farm market sales reignites his hopes of finding true love. Cole’s attempts to contact Sadie after their very romantic first date are met with unanswered texts and calls. So he decides to travel to London to surprise her with a grand romantic gesture. However, he soon discovers that Sadie is not an art curator as she had claimed, but an international spy on a dangerous mission. He is inadvertently pulled into the chaos and is forced to join Sadie on a globe-trotting mission to save the world.

Review: There has been an evident dearth of well-written comedy films in recent years. And compelling action comedies are an even rarer commodity these days with a slew of underwhelming films such as The Lost City, Uncharted, Shotgun Wedding, and the latest Marvel films. Ghosted falls in the bracket of a romantic action comedy similar to the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz film Knight and Day – a film that had its fair share of criticisms when it was released in 2010. And 13 years later Apple TV+ has released a film that makes Knight and Day look like Citizen Kane. Ghosted is rife with ridiculous plot devices, cheesy humour, and two lead stars with next to no chemistry.

Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, despite their star power, are unconvincing in their roles as Cole and Sadie. Their lack of chemistry is in fact repeatedly addressed in the narrative, but rather poorly, by having supporting characters repeatedly remark about the couple's “sexual tension" or pointing out that they should “get a room.” The most disappointing aspect of the film is the fact that it gives the impression of an elaborate advertisement for Apple’s AirTags. While such marketing and brand placements certainly should not be detrimental to a film’s quality, the lack of subtlety, and it becoming a significant plot device, undermines the story.

The story itself is half-baked and with set pieces borrowed from several sources, including a few action scenes that resemble Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher’s adventures in the Uncharted video games. In fact, Chris Evans could have been an ideal candidate to play Nathan Drake in the 2022 film adaptation starring Tom Holland. One could argue that the wrong Avenger was cast in the role of the swashbuckling treasure hunter Nathan Drake. Whereas Ana de Armas either lacks the range to play comedy or has had her work cut out due to the underwhelming script.

For the general audience, Evans will always be Captain America, and it was always going to take a monumental performance from the actor to separate Captain America from any other character he plays in films. So the inclusion of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in Ghosted, two actors who essay pivotal characters in the Captain America films, is counterproductive. There are a couple of other cameos as well, shoehorned into the narrative, including John Cho and Ryan Reynolds. And the only cameo that is genuinely unique Easter egg is John Cho’s. Cho plays the role of one of the several bounty hunters in search of the fabled Taxman, and he also played the most iconic bounty hunter Spike Spiegel in the Cowboy Bebop Netflix adaptation. But the other cameos stick out like a sore thumb.

Adrien Brody as the primary antagonist Leveque is crippled by how poorly his character has been written. Apple has thrown a lot of money at this project, with a stellar cast and even roped in renowned director Dexter Fletcher to helm the project. However, all the money in the world would not have been able to pull this film from mediocrity.

Verdict: Ghosted is a throwback romance action comedy that is unable to deliver any meaningful comedy or nail-biting action sequences. And the lack of chemistry between its two stars is an unrecoverable blow for the film.