Apple TV+’s new movie “Ghosted” dropped on April 21, and let’s just say the message failed to send. But when you hear that a movie is an action-adventure and a rom-com, that should have tipped you off immediately that something in this movie is going to go wrong. It’s understandable why most would disregard that fact, though, given that the movie stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.

The movie follows a guy, Cole (Chris Evans) who is a farm boy. One day he runs into Sadie (Ana de Armas), and after a flirtatious argument, they go on a spontaneous date. The two end up sleeping together, but then she ghosts him. Cole figures out that Sadie is in Paris and goes there as a romantic gesture, then figures out she is an infamous spy. The two go on a wild journey together. It seems good on paper, but that doesn’t always translate to being good on the big screen.

Honestly, coming into this movie I thought the premise was super interesting. A guy meets a girl he’s attracted to and figures out shes a spy — it sounded awesome. The movie’s plot seemed compelling, but when you realize you have to balance the romantic aspect with the action-adventure aspect while keeping the action scenes entertaining, it’s hard for them to balance it all. So how did they balance it? They didn’t.

The movie started off as a romantic comedy, then they quickly blinded the romantic comedy aspect of the film with lots of action scenes, basically making it more of an action-adventure than a romantic comedy. In my opinion, the plot was very low-quality. The action scenes were decent and I think that’s due to the director, Dexter Fletcher, who is no stranger to action movies like this. But he made the mistake of focusing on the action as opposed to keeping the aspect of a rom-com, which was stressed in trailers, ads, etc.

“Ghosted” was so hyped because people love seeing big celebrities like Chris Evans and Ana de Armas working together — especially in a new movie that introduces the idea of a rom-com and an action/adventure. It was clear that they were the ones that kept you from turning the TV off after the first 10 minutes. Whoever did the casting for the movie deserves some respect, because moving past the poor writing, there is no denying that Ana de Armas and Chris Evans worked well together. And seeing how they work as a comedic duo while balancing the action-based parts of the movie is something you won’t see many other actors do.

There is no denying that these two fit their roles almost perfectly. Chris Evans played a farm boy in the film and got caught up into some shady spy business. It compares greatly to the cinematic character Captain America that he played in the Marvel franchise. Ana de Armas played a spy in the movie, which is perfect for her because Ana de Armas has starred in spy movies before. The most recent being the James Bond movie “No Time to Die.” They were also both in the Netflix movie “The Gray Man.” The synchronization and familiarity with this genre really help the movie. I think these two actors kept this movie afloat because most of the scenes and writing felt too low-quality, even for an Apple TV+ original.

Apple TV+’s new movie “Ghosted” had so much potential and became a massive letdown. It just wasn’t high quality, the writing was poor and an action-adventure rom-com must have just been too hard for the directors to properly make. It’s unfortunate to see great actors like Chris Evans and Ana de Armas have to carry this movie on their back. I loved the idea they had, but sometimes thinking a movie is good or not before release is a gamble. Frankly, I’m upset that this movie couldn’t live up to the hype that it was given. I don’t like the movie, but there was no denying that there were some good action scenes, so this is what I’d suggest if there is anyone debating on watching this movie: If you want a good romantic comedy, do not watch this movie. If you want a movie with some action, then this movie is a good one to choose. You can stream “Ghosted” exclusively on Apple TV.

“Ghosted:” ★★☆☆☆