Film Review: Fool's Gold

by Philip Key, Liverpool Daily Post

Fool's Gold (12A, 113 mins)
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Alexis Dziena, Ewen Bremner, Ray Winstone, Kevin Hart
Directed by Andy Tennant

THERE are some times when watching a film that you start wondering why the people involved bothered.

It was a thought which occurred to me several times during this so-called comedy-thriller.

It features some major stars and obviously cost a lot of money, but registers very little on the entertainment scale.

Then it occurred to me.

It was set in the Bahamas where the sun seems to shine every day, on board one of those luxury yachts that must cost millions and was obviously a location shoot, not filmed in a studio.

Who wouldn’t want to go and work in a setting like that? It may not do much for your career, but it certainly won’t harm it and you are working with a nice crowd.

McConaughey and Hudson had worked together on How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, which had done reasonable box office business, and actors like Donald Sutherland and Ray Winstone always seem like nice guys.

So it’s off to the Bahamas for a few weeks in the sun and the pay day probably wasn’t too bad, either.

It is just a shame that the result – Fool’s Gold – ends up as such an empty-headed piece of nonsense.

The opening screen narration tells us about a Spanish treasure ship that sank back in another century full of gems and crowns intended for a Royal wedding.

That tale sounds pretty adventurous, but alas we find ourselves in the 21st century where treasure hunter Matthew McConaughey and pal are diving on the spot where they think the treasure may be.

The credits are hardly over before their boat has blown up and sunk to the bottom, leaving the pair looking a bit befuddled when they surface.

There’s also a local crook whose two comedy thugs have spotted the boat blowing up and to whom McConaughey owes money – and the crook wants his money back.

Meanwhile, Hudson, who is playing McConaughey’s soon-to-be ex-wife, is working her passage on a millionaire’s yacht.

To simplify the dreary plot line, let’s just say that the millionaire is soon helping McConaughey and wife to search for the treasure, but the crook is on to it as well.

Famed for removing his shirt in practically every film to show his well-developed torso (well, it is the Bahamas), McConaughey spends most of the film shirtless and in one scene bottomless as has he has a naked rub-down with a towel on deck.

Donald Sutherland, as the millionaire, looks slightly bored with the whole enterprise and amuses himself by putting on a posh English accent, while Ray Winstone as a dodgy boatman tackles an American one.

Bikini-wearing Hudson does a lot of overworked facial mugging, having been told she was in a comedy film.

Oh, and the two cooks on board the ocean-going yacht are a gay couple.

Think of a film cliché and you will find it here, from the estranged couple who really love each other to the dumb heiress.

It’s all very frothy, but blow away the froth and you discover there is nothing underneath.

With a “comedy” music score underlining every conversation, this is oh-so predictable, although you might just enjoy the location.

philkey@dailypost.co.uk