Ghosted

Starring: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Mike Moh, Tate Donovan, Amy Sedaris, Anthony Mackie, John Cho, Sebastian Stan, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Black Nelson
Directed by: Dexter Fletcher
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A farmer (Chris Evans) falls in love with a beautiful stranger (Ana de Armas) and when he travels to Europe to surprise her, is shocked to learn she is an international spy.

Review:

Tim: Dexter Fletcher has shown a good deal of promise early in his directorial career. Eddie the Eagle and Rocketman were entertaining films. Unfortunately, Ghosted represents a major step backwards for him. There's so many things wrong with this film, it's a bit hard to believe. None of it is fatal- this is a perfectly okay film. It's just that the elements were in place for this to be much better than it was. It's frustrating that Apple+ advertised this so prominently and then the movie itself turns out to be so lackluster.

The whole thing starts going wrong in the script stage. It's average in just about every sense. We've seen this exact plot played out numerous times before. It's rarely ever worked. The movie offers no real surprises as it plods forward with its basic and redundant plot. There's barely any inspired moments in the entire thing. This even extends to the title- Ghosted is about as stupid a title for this movie as I can think of. It's totally irrelevant and it makes me madder and madder the more I think about it. The script is just weak- it's not terrible, I'll admit that. It just feels like a paint-by-numbers approach to the story. It offers nothing new.

The film bets everything on the chemistry of its two leads. It's almost as if Fletcher figured no one would notice the paper-thin script if people were caught up in the banter between Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. In theory, this is a great pairing. They have history together and bringing that familiarity should help. The movie certainly spends a lot of time on the back-and-forth between these two. The problem is that it never works as much as the film needed it to. It's fine, and Evans and de Armas have a few solid moments together. However, much of their banter felt forced. There's very few legitimately funny lines. Evans' comedic timing isn't great in large quantities. He's much better playing it serious and then on occasion, hitting you with a zinger. He felt uncomfortable in this role to me- his dialogue delivery felt too over-the-top to me. I didn't believe his exasperation. He doesn't sell it convincingly enough. de Armas is solid in her performance, although the larger-than-life comedy isn't a great fit for her, either. You have two leads, then, who are asked to do too much and their strengths don't align with their tasks. They're game, they put a lot into the effort, but the result is middling at best. So, you have a film with a lackluster script that needed its leads to save it- and they can't manage to do that.

The supporting cast actually does give the film a boost. Adrien Brody is always an enjoyable bad guy. He has range and can be very likeable on screen, but when he turns on the villainous vibe, it simply works. He's effective in his role. In perhaps the film's most inspired scene, you have this insane cameo-heavy sequence featuring surprise performances by Anthony Mackie, John Cho, and Sebastian Stan. This obviously was done to try and glean some of the shine off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's an audience pandering scene, clearly, but it's funny, fun, and mostly enjoyable. I wish the rest of the film was that inspired. Ryan Reynolds also makes a cameo towards the end of the film. It's mostly pointless, but I always love a surprise Reynolds appearance. The rest of the supporting cast is fairly effective, too. This is certainly a strength of the film.

The action sequences are fairly decent throughout the film. The highlight might be the backwards-driving chase scene through the Khyber Pass. It's well staged, continually exciting, and advances the characters' stories while providing top-notch entertainment. It's one of the key highlights from the film. Contrast this with the climax at the revolving restaurant, a scene so ludicrous that my eyes got tired from continually rolling. It completely abandons any attempt to align with reality. It's loud and fast, but fairly stupid.

Ghosted might be Apple+'s most watched debut and they certainly celebrate that if they want. However, it's an uninspiring mess of a film. I expected more from Fletcher and I expected a lot more from a dynamic pairing of Evans and de Armas. When you have a bad script, though, there's only so much talented people can do. This is an utterly forgettable film that will soon disappear from our consciousness.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Knives Out, Eddie the Eagle, The Spy Who Dumped Me