Review: Ghosted (2023)

After meeting art curator, Sadie Rhodes at a farmers’ market, small-town farmer Cole Turner becomes smitten and the pair go on a date. Spending the afternoon getting to know each other, Cole and Sadie appear to share a connection and this leads to them sleeping together.

The next morning, Cole returns home to tell his parents about this new girl he has met. He believes Sadie could be ‘the one’, and proceeds to send her a series of text messages to check in with her.

But after a few hours with no response, Cole begins to suspect that Sadie is ghosting him. That is until he discovers she is in London, leading him to assume she has been called away for work.

Believing it would be romantic if he hopped on a plane and headed to London to surprise her, Cole goes in search of Sadie. However, this is a decision he comes to regret when he finds himself getting caught up in Sadie’s real line of work, which is far removed from the art world.

Directed by Dexter Fletcher and starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, Ghosted is an action-comedy which is new to Apple TV+ from today. The movie is a well-meaning romp, which is fine to watch, but alas, it is nothing special.

The film’s heart is in the right place, but it never quite hits hard enough. It throws many punches, with a couple landing here and there, but there are a few too many swings and misses for its own good.

Ghosted isn’t as funny as it wants to be, nor is it as hip or as sexy as it could be. The action sequences also fail to raise any real excitement levels, and feel somewhat underwhelming as a result.

It’s not terrible, nor does it feel like a complete waste of time, but Ghosted is fairly generic. There’s nothing in here that hasn’t been done countless times before, and this ultimately stops it from being anything other than a mid-level movie.  

Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are the writers behind this picture, and considering they were involved in films such as Deadpool (Reese and Wenick) and the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies (McKenna and Sommers), there is a sense this film should be sharper, wittier, and a touch more dynamic. There are occasional moments when the jokes work, but too many of them fall flat, and none of them produce any belly laughs.

A couple of scenes do induce a few chuckles, including a bus brawl and a comical sequence involving bounty hunters, but again these scenes should be stronger. There is certainly something here, and as you watch you can feel the motor running and the wheels turning, but it still isn’t enough.

What does work well for the movie is the combination of lead stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas who not only looking absolutely gorgeous (I’m not jealous – honest), they also share great on-screen chemistry. This is the third time the pair have worked together, following roles in Knives Out and The Gray Man, and they continue to demonstrate their ability to shine.

For Evans, he gets to step back from his high-profile role as Marvel’s Captain America, to play a character who is far from a super hero. Meanwhile, de Armas gets to lean into her action-star talents, something previously witnessed in No Time to Die, and she does this effortlessly.

Working opposite each other, the Evans and de Armas pairing is a winner. And while it’s a shame they aren’t given better material to work with, they still nail their parts.

Ghosted also benefits from a few other familiar faces, who pop-up in minor roles, and add a little bit of additional star power to the picture. As mentioned above, there is definitely the sense this film’s heart is in the right place, and it really does try, it just never moves beyond the sum of its parts.

Ghosted is perfectly watchable stuff and fine for a Saturday night in front of the TV with a takeaway and a beer, but it isn’t going to rock anyone’s world, nor will it stay in the mind once the credits roll. The lead stars elevate the picture, as do some of the supporting actors and a few well-placed cameos, but that’s about it.

If you want a fun action-comedy, then recent(ish) releases such as The Lost City, Nobody, or Free Guy are far superior, as is something more old school like Romancing the Stone. However, if you do fancy giving Ghosted your time then you won’t hate it, but I doubt you’ll be that arsed about it either.

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