1. The Action-Adventure Romantic Comedy - I whole-heartedly adore this movie. I feel like there's been a little bit of a resurgence of the action-adventure genre recently with the Jumanji movies, Jungle Cruise, the Jurassic World movies, and even Uncharted. So it's definitely capitalizing on an upward trend, but I feel like this movie really gets a big aspect of the older action-adventure movies, and that is that it mixes up the genres by adding the rom-com within the story. The closest comparison I can think of is Romancing the Stone (and that's from 1984). Other films have done it, of course, like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but I don't think any of them have balanced all of the genre mixing so well. I genuinely laughed so hard at multiple parts of this movie, I rooted for the main characters to get-together in the end, and I had SO MUCH FUN with the adventure that they are forced to embark on. For me, going to the movie theater has become a thing of the past - and this started waaaaay before the pandemic. There are several reasons for this (theaters are too crowded, people are inconsiderate, easier to just wait for comfortable home viewing), and in 2020, I made it my goal to go to the movies more (LOL that didn't work out well, obviously) because I did start to miss it. Before the pandemic really hit, I watched two movies in the theater - Bombshell and The Rhythm Section and neither were very inspiring. After Covid hit, I went to the movies once to see Wonder Woman 1984 (in a private theater), and even that was...meh. It did not make me long for the movie theater experience at all. I would still rather just watch movies at home! But this movie might have finally changed things for me. I sat there in awe of the spectacle, enjoyed laughing along with the other audience members, and just being taken out of the real world for a few hours. Total bliss.
2. The Movie Star(s) - Another thought that sprang to my mind while watching this movie is this idea of "The Movie Star". There's definitely a disintegration of the idea of movie stardom - it rarely exists nowadays. And I'm not talking about actual acting chops either - just that magnetic charisma that very few people have that makes you gravitate towards their every move. I've always loved Sandra Bullock (I'm not exaggerating in the slightest - she was my role model as a teenager and well into my 20s. I bought her every magazine cover, saw every single one of her movies, recorded her television appearances (ON A VCR!) - she was everything to me), but this is the first time in a while that I sat there watching a film, thinking, "this is a movie star". She's peak Sandra Bullock in this - hilariously funny, genuinely charming, intelligent and witty, and she has a way of making you love her even when she's being a little bit of a bitch. She just commands the screen. It's also kind of amazing (and inspiring?) to watch Sandra, at 57 years old, star in a movie like this and still be that hot. And she plays off of Channing Tatum so well - the chemistry is instant (the age difference doesn't even bother me, but probably because I'm so used to seeing it the other way, this is actually kind of refreshing). I'm a fan of Channing, and I think he should stick to comedy (or comedy/action movies like this). He's not the best actor, but he's actually hilarious. The way he fumbles through some of the action sequences had me in tears from laughing (his failure during the fight scenes are just so good). Plus, the scene with them dancing is soooo fucking sexy. I don't think he's hot (just not my type, he's obviously attractive), but damn, sometimes I forget that he's a professional dancer, but I LOVE when I'm reminded of it. The other big "Movie Star" I should mention is, obviously, Brad Pitt. His appearance is more of a glorified cameo, but it is absolute perfection. I knew he wasn't in it for long, but it's quite shocking what happens to him - my mom was very upset about it, but I thought it was hilarious.
3. The Supporting Cast - I love what Daniel Radcliffe is doing with his career lately. Just really big risks in which he gets to be super weird (Miracle Workers is a joy to watch mostly because of him, and Steve Buscemi, of course). He plays "the bad guy" in this, but the audience is never really led to hate him. He's quite funny, and charming in a way, and also super weird and a little creepy. I also really like the girl from Together Together! I liked her in that movie so much, so it was nice to see her in something else (especially such a big movie like this) so quickly. Her name is Patti Harrison, btw. Da'Vine Joy Randolph is a hilarious side-kick too. Just overall a perfect cast.
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