For a movie like “The Lost City,” opening Friday, chemistry isn’t just one thing. It’s everything.

The first major feature from directors/brothers Adam and Aaron Nee, “The Lost City” is a romantic-comedy and action-adventure riff in the vein of Robert Zemeckis’ 1984 hit, “Romancing the Stone.” Plot, realism and breaking new ground don’t matter all that much. It’s all about screen presence, comedic timing and a believable appeal between the leads.

On that score, “The Lost City” succeeds. Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock have an amiable, infectious chemistry that helps paper over the movie’s predictability. Viewers may know where “The Lost City” is going at every turn but half the fun is getting there.

布洛克Loretta圣人,一个成功的浪漫小说list and archaeologist who is totally burned out on her successful series of novels featuring a plucky heroine and a swashbuckling hero on the hunt for secret treasures across the globe. Tatum is Alan, a hunk-for-hire who is the cover model for her books and appears with Sage on her book tours (much to her chagrin). He is a man for whom the word “shirtless” is less an adjective and more a state of being.

Sage has retreated to her house and doesn’t like going out, largely because of the death of her archaeologist husband with whom she shared many real-life adventures. So, to the horror of her publicist, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “Empire,” “The Last O.G.”), Sage is thinking of hanging up her keyboard for good and living the life of an ex-writer.

But, after one stop on what could be her last book tour, she is approached by a dapper and wealthy man named Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe). He’s an amateur treasure hunter himself, and he says there are real clues in her latest novel about a buried tomb containing unknown riches on a remote island in the Atlantic. He says she can “name her price” if she will come with him, translate the glyphs they come across and help him find the loot.

Of course, she refuses, he switches to full-on movie-villain-madman mode and, along with his stable of obedient minions, kidnaps her and takes her to the island where he already has a team doing a massive amount of excavating. Little does Fairfax know that Alan, and his sort-of pal Trainer (Brad Pitt, seeming as if he’s having a good time), are in hot pursuit.

None of this matters much, but what does matter is the growing bond between Loretta and Alan (by now, everyone with an internet connection has seen the trailer with part of the leeches scene) marked by one-liners, budding respect and perhaps much more.

Working from a script co-written with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, the Nees keep things moving quickly (thankfully, the film clocks in at under two hours) and Tatum really owns the role of the reluctant action hero. (Also, kudos for using Nick Cave on the soundtrack.)

Not everything works. Randolph’s character feels forced and overdone and Oscar Nuñez (“The Office”) is wasted.

Still, “The Lost City” is the kind of movie that works well enough within the confines of a darkened theater, though it evaporates from memory under the harsh light of day. So, though moviegoers may not feel as if they’ve discovered a sunken treasure, they won’t feel as if they’ve been taken by pirates either.

cary.darling@chron.com