This is David Spade's big jump to leading roles after his newfound success on the TV show `Just Shoot Me'. That show alone has given Spade a new throng of fans. Fans that have come to adore a lovable, but defanged Spade. For those of us who are addicted to `Saturday Night Live', you may come away from `Lost' a little lost yourself. While this film is tailored made for the predictable snarkiness and cynicism that is Spade's humor, I was shocked to be sitting through probably the most vanilla film in the last 10 years.
There isn't much of a pulse to `Lost', in fact, without Spade, there isn't much going on at all in this comedy. David Spade, who co-wrote this, does a fine acting job. I would consider him one of the five comedians who can make me laugh when they say just about anything. He mixes his usual one-liners with minor attempts at range and depth. Amazingly, he does make an effective romantic leading man. Sophie Marceau, who plays the love interest, uses her Sheena like mane of hair and a tiny bit of California sun to make the sexiest impression from an actress since Catherine Zeta-Jones blazed across the screen in `Mask Of Zorro'. She brings her bag of cutes with her as well. I found it really funny to watch this French actress try to get her lips around some of Spade's jokes. I'm betting Marceau doesn't have a clue what she's saying. She does make a pleasant couple with Spade, it's just too bad the film adheres so much to the weak plot. I could have watched a film of just both actors playing off each other. With a running time about 20 minutes too long, you would think they're would be more scenes of that. No luck. Director Jeff Pollack doesn't bring much to the table here. With boring locations, uninteresting camerawork, and a poorly selected supporting cast (with Artie Lang blatantly in the Chris Farley role), he cannot bring much life to `Lost And Found'. Add to that the aforementioned plot that stops the film dead when the movie remembers to stick to it. I love Spade to death, and this film is charming and very funny at times. But next opportunity, he should make a hard R rated comedy that takes no prisoners. The Spade in `Lost' just isn't the Spade that makes me pee my pants with delight.----------- 7
