Xtreme Vogue Mumbai Desk: Komal Qureshi
Star Cast: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Mike Moh, and ensemble.
Director: Dexter Fletcher.
What’s Good: Someone had the guts to approach Ana de Armas and Chris Evans with this script, and the fate that made the two say yes.
What’s Bad: EXACTLY what’s good.
Loo Break: Not sure if those breaks will be nature calling you or you wanting to reassess your life choice.
Watch or Not?: Even if you are a fan of either of its lead, this one is not even a fan service. Invest your time wisely.
Language: English (with subtitles)
Available On: Apple TV+.
Runtime: 117 Minutes.
User Rating:
Cole (Chris) falls for a girl, Saddie (Ana), while he thinks he is fixing her from past trauma. Little does he know that he is falling for a secret agent as just when they are about to go on their second date he is dragged into a mission with her to save the world.
Script Analysis
Somebody needs to do research and probably make a true crime docu-series out of the phenomenon where creators think of an idea, hire big names to headline it, and forget to shape anything good ahead. Isn’t this a crime enough? Well, Ghosted, an emotion that the audience is supposed to feel more than a movie title, is precisely the aforementioned phenomenon where the writing digs a grave for itself and jumps in it too.
Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Chris McKenna, Ghosted as a premise makes for a very lucrative adventurous rom-com. A star-crossed couple is suddenly on a mission to save the world because unlikely the woman in the dynamic is a secret agent and actually the hero of the story. A week away from the release of Citadel, where Priyanka Chopra Jonas does a fabulous job at this trajectory, the Ana de Armas starrer does nothing to turn its lucrative concept into an engaging movie.
There are indeed some earnest moments in the movie where you want to root for this man who is convincing a sad woman to buy a plant that doesn’t need much of care, so she can be out of stress about its well-being. In a way, he is selling himself to woman he has fallen in love with at the first sight. But all the metaphors die post this point, and left is a forced movie that doesn’t commit to any single genre at all.
While the rom-com part of it flickered restlessly, all the hopes got stuck to the action part of it. But Ghosted does nothing to redeem itself because there is no effort in making the action any good. Rather they try to blend the complexities between the two and their situation in the most haphazard manner. One cannot even enjoy the genuinely funny moments because the surrounding overpowers and the balance goes for a toss.
Star Performance
Both Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are convinced that this is a good script and act like this is some very content-driven movie which had a hidden message to it. Evans uses the tricks or two he has learned as the Captain America to charm the audience and he does too, but to what cost?
For Ana, Ghosted feels like a breather after giving it all to Blonde, a questionable movie but a splendid performance. Here she cake walks through whatever is given to her, and at one point, you can see even she is slowly giving up. But that doesn’t stop her from claiming her zone in the dynamic she shared with Chris. Wish they were back together in a way better film. Because the last time was Knives Out, and we know how brilliant that one was and these two in it were.
Direction, Music
Dexter Fletcher is not even trying to redeem his product at any dipping point. Even an audience member not so sound with the cinema technique can say where the movie losses its grip, never to be found again. The visuals are indeed good, but what can they do if the intent flickers most of the time.
The music created a little to no impact for me and we definitely expect better.
The Last Word
Chris Evans and Ana de Armas deserve much more than a movie that doesn’t even try to use their calibre and unique chemistry.
Trailer
