Susan Granger’s review of “Ghosted” (Apple TV+/Skydance)
First, let’s define the term “Ghosted.” In social media terms, “ghosting’ is deliberately ignoring someone and “ghosted” is being ignored – meaning that whatever relationship you had – or think you had – is over.
So when Cole (Chris Evans) and Sadie (Ana de Armas) ‘meet cute’ at a suburban Washington D.C. Farmer’s Market, they decide to spend the day – and night – together, causing him to think they’ve clicked as a couple. But then – when she doesn’t respond to his fervent texts and emojis, his sister (Lizze Broadway) tells him he’s been ghosted.
Unwilling to accept that, Cole figures out that she’s in London, since he left his trackable asthma inhaler in her backpack. So he impulsively flies there in hot, romantic pursuit, only to discover she’s a ruthless CIA operative on the trail of an unscrupulous French arms dealer (Adrien Brody) about to sell a top-secret biomedical weapon known as Aztec.
Working from a bland ‘role reversal’ script by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick (“Deadpool”), Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers (“Spider-Man”), director Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) tries to combines comedy with globe-hopping adventure as Sadie the Spy repeatedly rescues bumbling, bewildered Cole, the farmer/agricultural historian, whom his dad (Tate Donovan) calls “Slaw.”
A classic Hollywood screwball comedy features couples who squabble before they realize they really adore one another. But – here – much of the bickering & bantering falls flat, despite surprise cameos from Ryan Reynolds & Sebastian Stan.
There’s simply too little chemistry between Marvel’s hunky “Captain America” Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, who proved she can pack a punch in “No Time to Die” and “The Gray Man.” Even the climactic fight scene atop Atlanta’s rotating Polaris restaurant seems more confusing than compelling.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ghosted” is a starry-eyed, spirited 6, streaming on Apple TV+.
