Ghosted – A Serviceable Action Romcom

Ghosted is the newest action comedy from Apple that sees Chris Evans and Ana De Armas reunite for their third on screen collaboration together after last year’s The Gray Man and 2019’s hit Knives Out. The story sees Cole (Evans) fall head over heels for the enigmatic Sadie (De Armas), but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent when he travels to London to surprise her after she ghosts him following their first date together. From there, Cole and Sadie are then swept away on an international adventure to save the world before they can decide if they even want a second date together. Meanwhile, the film had a rather disastrous build up to it’s release from it’s iffy marketing campaign to its worrisome clips that the Internet picked apart and the late review embargo which is usually never a good sign for a film with big stars and a respectable team behind it. Thankfully, it is far from the atrocity its marketing made it out to be while some will think that with all the talent and money behind it, it should be so much better than it was.

The biggest thing Ghosted has going for it is the gender swapping role reversal between its leads. Here, De Armas is the ass-kicking, globetrotting CIA agent to Evans’ fish-out-of-water damsel in distress. De Armas is once again really good here and she perfectly sells the badass nature of her character especially during the action sequences while also nailing the more comedic and romantic moments as well. While Evans is fine, his performance is hurt by the writing. It’s fun seeing him play against type and not be the central hero this time around, but Cole is honestly kind of annoying and it doesn’t help that he’s given the worst dialogue in the entire film.

The chemistry between De Armas and Evans isn’t what it should be either. They both work well enough together especially during the more romcom sections of the film, but their relationship just feels slightly off therefore hard to buy them as romantic interests. It also doesn’t help that for almost the entire first act features awkwardly long pauses between the two after they read their dialogue which comes across as bizarre and unnatural. Brody is hams it up as the villain Leveque and clearly having fun doing so, but he’s criminally wasted or the tone should’ve been more like what he was bringing. Though there are quite a few cameos featured throughout, they all feel tacked on and don’t really tie into anything or add much.

The film attempts multiple different genre’s ranging from action to comedy and romance and it unfortunately fumbles all three. The choice of Dexter Fletcher as director was an odd one considering his past work doesn’t quite fit with the tone or vibe this is going for. As over-the-top, explosive, and extended as all the action sequences are, they’re ruined by chopping editing, horrible visual effects, and far too many quick cuts. It’s hard to tell what’s going on and they can’t help but feel bombastic, ludicrous, and unexciting in the end except for the first big set piece which was enjoyable. The romance never fully takes off either because of the chemistry or lack thereof between Evans and De Armas despite both being likeable enough individually.

The comedy is definitely what works the best and there are admittedly some good laughs to be found but for every joke that works there’s about five that fall flat on their face. It doesn’t help that this entire film is shot like a television sitcom and that nearly every scene looks like it was shot in front of a green screen in even the simplest of environments. The sheer amount of green screen environments was pretty distracting, and it doesn’t help that none of it looks good, especially during the third act which looked straight up unfinished. The third act is really where this goes off the rails and every decision made during the finale feels specifically designed to irritate a certain demographic of filmgoers.

Ghosted is The Gray Man or Red Notice of 2023 which will be a recommendation for some or a sign to stay as far away as humanly possible for others. The film is entertaining enough and perfectly harmless in the moment but with all the talent behind and in front of the camera, it’s disappointing how it turned out to be nothing more than just mediocre. A lot of viewers are going to rightfully hate this and blast it for everything it does wrong but casual audiences looking for some escapism might find some enjoyment. However, it does help that prospective viewers can watch it without even leaving the couch or paying money for it outside an Apple TV+ subscription. While it may not be particularly good, it is serviceable enough and isn’t the worst way to kill 2-hours.

still courtesy of Apple TV+

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/