Movie Review: Fool's Gold.

SCORE: 3/5.

CAST:

• Matthew McConaughey: Benjamin Finnegan.


• Kate Hudson: Tess Finnegan.


• Donald Sutherland: Nigel Honeycutt


• Alexis Dziena: Gemma Honeycutt


• Ewan Brenner: Alfonz


• Ray Winstone: Moe Fitch


• Malcom-Jamal Warner: Cordell

REVIEW:

Here is a fun movie with a few too many liberal political statements of the "in-your-face" variety. We have a film largely about treasure hunting, with two homosexual cooks just sort of thrown into the mix for no reason other than to be provide comedy. There are a few other political statements thrown in, but I digress. I wonder if even homosexuals like movies that introduce homosexual characters as a joke for the sole purpose of comic relief? I have my doubts. Anyway...

Aside from this, the movie is wildly entertaining, if somewhat implausible. Plausibility, hwoever, is not what this movie is about, though. It is about treasure hunters. What treasure really makes little difference. The story is really about Benjamin (McConaughey) and Tess Finnegan (Hudson), who spend the beginning of the movie getting divorced. How hard can it be to get divorced? Well, lets just say that it is difficult to get to court on time if your stranded in the middle of the ocean with only the henchmen of a rapper turned gangsta crime lord to save you. By the way, Cordell (Warner), is by far my favorite henchman. Seeing Theo Cosby returning to the big screen warms my heart, and he really delivers.

The point of the story, without giving too much away, is that the freshly-divorced Finnegans are forced to place aside their differences when Ben persuades Tess' employer (Sutherland) to finance their attempted recovery of a Spanish treasure lost at sea many years ago. Sutherland's motivation seems to be 2-fold: he likes the idea of a treasure hunt and wants to take his daughter (Dziena) on a good father-daughter vacation to repair their trying relationship.

Perhaps Dziena's character is a little to spacey for belief, but she does remind me of so many Hollywood Hilton-Lohan types that any lost credibility for the character is quickly regained by comparison. In fact, her materialism is almost too ridiculous to believe, as she protests her father's $50k limit for a shopping trip. Regardless, her character provides comic relief in a comedy without being too annoying (unlike the homosexual cooks), and that is a difficult feat.

Opposing the unlikely crew are both Moe (Winstone), Ben's former protege, and the crew of the rap star gangster, including Cordell. Our protagonists are beaten, shot at, and nearly drowned on multiple occasions, when they are not in-fighting, but the movie is never so serious that we really become concerned for them. This is the type of movie you rent betting on a happy ending, and, without giving any details, I think it delivers. You be the judge.

PROS: The movie is a lot of fun, and for the most part the violence is light-hearted. It is never graphic. The language is often profane, but it is less prevalent than other, similar films. This is a story where a divorced couple fall in love again, which is a rare positive note for Hollywood. In the end, family and friends support each other toward a common goal and positive result. The film is largely upbeat.

CONS: Foul language, implied (not shown) sex, numerous innuendos, and the homosexual cooks detract from the movie's attractiveness to the Christian community. Also, the yacht-sporting rich tycoon trying to buy his daughter's love is a played out storyline, and it should not have succeeded. In fact, the sublot about Honeycutt and his daughter is very difficult to believe.

Final Thought: This movie is a lot of fun, and that is all it really set out to do. the actors are A-list in my book, and they deliver. In retrospect, the movie would have failed to deliver with lesser talent. Its deep bench really is part of the appeal: the actors are all interesting in complimentary but not similar ways. This movie isn't really about plausibility, so its lack of realism isn't much of a detraction. The profanity and inappropriate innuendos, unfortunately, are.

Bottom Line: 3/5