Film Review: Ghosted

There are movies that are big and there are movies that are big and dumb and fun. Then there are movies that want to be big and dumb and fun and by virtue of a lack of verve can’t muster much in the way of admiration. Ghosted, the new Apple TV+ film starring Ana De Armas and Chris Evans, unfortunately falls into that final category, not providing much in the way in entertainment over its 1:57 run time.

Evans plays Cole, a broken hearted farmer, who upon chance meets Sadie at a Farmer’s Market. After a rough introduction, he apologizes and manages to get her to agree to go get coffee. One coffee turns into an all day date and a romantic night together. They part ways and despite some missed texts, Cole believes she’s the one and he decides to fly across the world to surprise this woman, only to get captured and nearly killed. He is saved by Sadie, who has been an undercover spy all this time, and thrust into the world of spies and conspiracies.

It’s very disheartening to watch a movie where everyone seems to be operating on a level of average, which in turn can only make the viewer feel whelmed at best. There’s absolutely nothing about this film that feels new and fresh, which in itself is not egregious, but when you aren’t doing anything new, you should at least do something well. From the acting to the filmmaking, nearly every element of this film goes for the simplest route and as such can’t overcome the flaws the movie has, chiefly among them the relationship between it’s two main characters.

Putting aside the fact that these are two attractive actors, Ghosted’s script does more to convince you that these two characters should not be together than it does that they should. At every turn, Cole and Sadie prove to the other one that they don’t need to be together but this a movie that’s supposed to be a fun romcom so it continually undercuts anything interesting to brusquely move on to the moments where these characters are supposed to have connection.

Chris Evans, who has shown the ability to be incredibly charming on screen, is a poor fit for the every man character the movie so desperately needs him to be. Even overlooking that he played one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, Evans’ performance in this sees the actor at his most whelming, changing nothing of his standard voice and mannerisms to give Cole life. There’s a great history of big stars playing “regular” people caught up in extraordinary circumstances, but unfortunately for us, his performance here is quite flat, which leaves the movie in a pickle. What to do with a guy who feels capable but won’t let be capable because it can’t cause that’s not the character? Nothing, if Ghosted is anything to go by.

Ana De Armas doesn’t fare much better, not being required to do much more than look nice and competent in the action scenes. On the heels of her great cameo in Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, Ana de Armas has done two action movies for streamers and both have been lacking. In Ghosted, there is an interesting stretch set in Pakistan that shows what could have been but she can’t overcome any of the other issues with the film.

These two combine for a pairing that doesn’t amount to much and Ghosted as a film is not interested in exploring what actually might have been a premise worthy of some depth.