The Lost City

Echoing screwball romantic comedies of yesteryear with a slightly cruder contemporary touch, The Lost City doesn’t really deserve to be found.

Mildly enchanting but mostly forgettable, this derivative jungle adventure features some charismatic performances and a breezy silliness without any substance beneath its broad surface laughs to hold it together.

Loretta (Sandra Bullock) is a reclusive romance novelist clearly in a creative rut as she unveils her new erotic bestseller. She reluctantly agrees to a book tour lined up by her publicist (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

She takes the stage alongside hunky cover model Alan (Channing Tatum), who’s convinced that he’s the inspiration for the love interest in the book series. Loretta is enduring a midlife crisis and he’s trying to shed his reputation as a buffed-up airheaded model.

Fantasy and reality indeed mix when Loretta is kidnapped and taken to a remote island by a British billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) in search of an ancient treasure referenced in the novel. Does she hold the clues to its whereabouts?

The rescue effort forces Alan and Loretta to set aside their difference while avoiding mercenaries and enduring the elements. Plus, of course there’s a volcano ready to conveniently erupt on cue.

Bullock and Tatum generate an appropriately awkward chemistry even when the bickering between their characters turns repetitive. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt’s freewheeling extended cameo cranks up the energy but seems to come out of a different movie altogether.

The collection of one-liners and sight gags carries a hit-and-miss quality — seeing Bullock traipse across the rugged terrain in high heels and a sequined jumpsuit is amusing, while labored a sequence involving leeches just sucks — that’s not sufficient to cover the blatant plot holes and logical gaps.

Aside from the jokes, the arbitrary nature of the plotting diminishes the potential for emotional investment in whether Alan and Loretta wind up together, whether they find whatever riches they’re searching for, or whether they escape the island before it’s too late.

Along the way, The Lost City gently pokes fun at the nature of literary fame in the social-media age. Yet it doesn’t generate many sparks as a straightforward romantic fantasy or much intrigue as a treasure hunt.

Sibling directors Aaron and Adam Nee keep the pace lively. Their slick and stylish film certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it doesn’t make any sense, either.

Rated PG-13, 112 minutes.