The Best Example of How Not To Do a Cameo

The Big Picture

• Cameos in films can be distracting, taking the audience out of the moment and breaking the fourth wall.
• The film Ghosted suffers from distracting and unfunny cameos, including appearances from Chris Evans’ celebrity friends such as Ryan Reynolds, Sebastian Stan, and Anthony Mackie.
• The cameos in Ghosted serve as extended advertisements for Apple TV+ and undermine the film’s ability to stand on its own.

Even when properly used, a cameo takes the audience out of a given moment in a film. Alfred Hitchcock’s infamous cameos in the films that he directed were a winking nod to viewers that he was the real mastermind behind each adventure, and Bill Murray’s uproarious cameo in Zombieland suggested that the fictional world that the film existed in wasn’t much different than our own. Even the most predictable of cameos in new Marvel or DC films that tease future appearances by different characters are designed to get the viewer engaged in a larger storyline. Cameos are fun, cheeky ways to break the fourth wall, but they can also get distracting for anyone who was enjoying a film on its own terms. The new Apple TV+ romantic comedy Ghosted shows the worst of what cameos can be — distracting, unfunny, and downright cynical.

Why ‘Ghosted’ Doesn’t Work

Directed by Rocketman and Eddie the Eagle filmmaker Dexter Fletcher, Ghosted essentially feels like a modern day spin on True Lies, albeit one with much more Apple product placement. Chris Evans stars as Cole, a lonely, yet charismatic flower vendor who can’t seem to get a date to save his life — and somehow that’s not even the most unbelievable aspect of the film. Ana de Armas co-stars as Sadie, a new customer of Cole’s who becomes the woman of his dreams. Cole’s romantic infatuation with Sadie is thrown off course when he discovers that she’s actually a secret agent working for the CIA. Due to his obsession with Sadie (whom he tracks down using Apple products, no less), Cole is discovered by the ruthless French crime lord Leveque (Adrien Brody), who believes that he is a legendary CIA assassin known as “The Taxman.”

The issue with the film comes down to Evans himself; although Evans has shown in films like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Snowpiercer that he has more range as an actor than some may have thought, many of his post-Avengers: Endgame roles have struggled to distinguish him from Steve Rogers. A clever director like Rian Johnson weaponizes Evans’ charm, as Knives Out casts him against type as a greedy, selfish villain. However, Ghosted tries to make the more challenging argument that Evans’ character Cole is “just like us.” This is hard for someone like Evans who is gifted with great looks and peak physicality, and it’s even harder in a film like Ghosted where he’s often using the same expert fighting skills that he had as Captain America. To take things further, it makes Cole feel even less like an “average Joe” when Evans gets a few of his celebrity friends to pop up in the film once it actually starts getting compelling.

The Cameos in ‘Ghosted’ Are Distracting

There is a brief moment in Ghosted when Evans begins to actually slip into Cole as a character. As terrorist forces move in on Sadie, Cole is forced to recognize that he’s entirely unprepared for the situation; he doesn’t have the training or experience that Sadie does, and he begins to feel more vulnerable as a character. As Cole goes on the run, hopelessly defenseless without Sadie’s protection, he runs into one of the villains attempting to take down “The Taxman.” This new villain is played by none other than Anthony Mackie, Evans’ frequent Marvel Cinematic Universe co-star. Mackie’s appearance immediately undercuts any tension that the scene may have had otherwise. It’s clear that since Mackie’s role wasn’t promoted as one of the film’s leads, it’s nothing more than a brief appearance, and won’t bear any significance on the plot. It also suggests that Cole is safe, because it’s all part of an extended joke; even if the audience had temporarily been able to invest in Evans’ performance as Cole, the appearance of “Falcon and Captain America” united onscreen again reminds them of how unbelievable Evans was as an “average Joe” in the first place.

Although Mackie’s appearance at least adds a solid laugh to a largely unfunny film, Sebastian Stan’s role as another assassin (codenamed “God”) attempting to track down Cole is even more distracting. Mackie has enough comedy experience to make his scene feel like a brief sidetrack, but another cameo from one of Evans’ MCU co-stars obliterates any attempts that the film had of standing on its own two legs. It serves as a dispiriting reminder of what Ghosted really is — an extended advertisement for the Apple TV+ service that features a lot of famous people doing “bits.” Having the Captain America stars Evans, Mackie, and Stan all appear on screen together, each using Apple products, is the equivalent of a celebrity cameo in a TV commercial. In fact, that may be an insult to some Super Bowl commercials that had a little bit more originality.

Stan and Mackies’ appearances undercut tension during one of the more exciting action sequences in the film, but thankfully, they manage to disappear before the climax. Of course, Ghosted can’t help but throw in yet another cameo when Ryan Reynolds pops up as Sadie’s ex-boyfriend (and ally) Jonas. This comes during the actual climax of the story where Cole and Sadie are risking their lives to stop Leveque and his minions. If Mackie and Stans’ cameos at least felt somewhat connected due to their association with Evans, Reynolds’ cameo simply comes out of nowhere. At the bare minimum, Stan and Mackie were playing side characters that were at least doing something for the plot (even if it was hard to take them seriously). Reynolds is just there for an easy gag, since Evans and de Armas didn’t have enough chemistry to make the scene work on its own.

Like most big budget films made for streaming services (including another Evans and de Armas vehicle, The Gray Man), Ghosted will likely age very poorly in the next few years. The Apple products that the film is showing off will be out of date, and the connection between Evans and his MCU co-stars will feel less relevant to an audience that has moved on. While it may have been a cheeky way to nab attention for the film at the moment, the cameos in Ghosted aren’t doing it any favors in the long run.