Ghosted (2023) Review

Mediocre
2.5

Summary

Ghosted has a few entertaining action scenes but the leads lack chemistry and I found it a little annoying after a while especially all the cameos which felt forced. It’s harmless enough and if you want a fun romp you could do worse but with the cast you’d expect better.

Plot: Cole falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie, but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

Review: Ghosted has been met with rather terrible reviews from critics so it made me curious to check it out for myself; although I don’t think it’s quite as terrible as many have said Ghosted isn’t that great as either a romantic comedy or as an action picture. It’s all a bit familiar and feels like plenty of other, better movies that have come before.

I’m about to go into mild spoilers so if you haven’t seen the movie read no further.

Ghosted starts off as a romantic comedy with Chris Evans likeable farmer Cole meeting and falling for Ana De Armas’ mysterious Sadie. Sparks fly and they get together but when Sadie doesn’t text back Cole decides to go to London as a “grand romantic gesture” which does come across as rather stalker-y.

He ends up getting taken hostage by some bad guys (as you do) and is rescued by Sadie who is in fact in the C.I.A. Cole’s personality seems to drastically change and all of a sudden he becomes a bit of a coward and maybe it’s because I’m so used to seeing Evans play Captain America that I never believed him as that character.

Despite our attractive leads Evans and Ana De Arma lack chemistry and I found the bickering a little annoying after a while. It tries to turn genre tropes on their head by making Armas the badass and Evans the damsel in distress but for me it didn’t really work. One scene where she punches Evans in the face after he doesn’t leave her behind had me wondering what the outrage would have been like if the roles were reversed…

The action we get is well done and there are a couple of interesting fight scenes especially the climactic showdown between Chris Evans and Mike Moh. I think the action highlight is the rescue scene which turns into an impressive chase through the mountains of Pakistan.

The PG-13 rating neuters a lot of the action as what could be rather awesome bad guy deaths all happen off camera so it’s never that satisfying and left me feeling cold.

Although I found Armas’ character unappealing I do love seeing her in action movies and she remains one of the few things I liked about No Time to Die. She seems to be dedicated to her roles going through all kinds of training but when the characters aren’t that interesting and the script has very little genuine laughs, it feels like a bit of a waste. The film also relies on cameos too much and they aren’t even especially funny either. I guess this movie isn’t for my age group and is aiming more for the MCU crowd.

Adrien Brody does the best he can as the villain but even he doesn’t have any memorable lines or moments that really stand out… it’s all just a bit safe to make much of an impact.

Overall, Ghosted has a few entertaining action scenes and our leads are easy on the eyes but the script could have been better and there’s nothing about it that you’ll give much thought to as soon as it’s over. It’s still an undemanding watch and makes for a fun Saturday night escape but it’s not a film I plan to revisit any time soon.