Sweaters and subterfuge are back with Chris Evans and Ana de Armas' newest action rom-com, Ghosted, their third movie together in the last four years. The film follows a soft and charming Evans' Cole as he chases de Armas' Sadie across the world in the pursuit of love, only to find out she's a government agent. Ghosted appears like a massive hit of nostalgia wrapped up in a popular pairing, reminiscent of Knight and Day or Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
This genre of action romance has been lacking entries over the last decade. With the rise of superhero movies and their romantic subplots and the boom in streaming rom-com content, there hasn't been a demand for this kind of story. While recent entries include Murder Mystery, The Lost City and The Spy Who Dumped Me, none of these really have the whirlwind romance of classics like Date Night and The Bounty Hunter. Thankfully, Ghosted looks to be trying to bring the action romance back, only with a twist.
Ghosted Flips the Rom-Com Genre on Its Head
Ghosted puts a fresh spin on things by switching up the meet-cute where Evans plays the clueless, in-love character and de Armas is the action star. In most works, the woman plays the out-of-the-loop civilian counterpart to the action hero man, or, in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, they are on equal footing as action leads. Rarely, if ever, has there been a power balance that places the man as the damsel.
The plot centers on Cole and Sadie meeting and going on a date before she ghosts him. Evans' character, convinced she simply doesn't have service on a trip abroad, follows her to Europe, where he discovers she's a secret agent. The general premise of the film feels like an ode to Leap Year or Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The idea of pursuit in this sense could be creepy, but the trailer addresses that and seems not to reward the concept, unlike similar films of the early 2000s and 2010s.
Ghosted Has What It Takes To Be a Hit
Romantic comedies nowadays seem to fall into one of two major categories -- formulaic streaming hits or subversive genre-bending stories. Ghosted appears to take this genre subversion and bring it back to a more traditional setting and story. The trailer also suggests that the film, while still flipping the gender roles, sticks to a familiar action-comedy style with a romantic twist.
And the recent resurgence of early 2000s-like media has created the perfect environment for Ghosted to come out. Adrian Brody rounds out the cast as a campy villain akin to his Grand Budapest Hotel character. Evans and de Armas are also at their career peaks, with Evans being one of the most notable actors working today and de Armas recently being nominated for an Oscar for her turn as Marilyn Monroe. Moreover, the idea of them playing a couple has been roaming since Knives Out, making Ghosted the perfect storm of rom-com goodness.
Ghosted will release on Apple TV on April 21.