Fool's Gold

Admirers of underdressed movie stars will enjoy Matthew McConaughey, who sports only swimwear for many of his scenes in Fool's Gold. Everyone else may feel a little cheated. Fans of romantic comedy will note that McConaughey plays surprisingly few scenes opposite with co-star Kate Hudson, although the movie supposedly shows them falling in love all over again after a recent divorce. Fans of adventure stories will be treated to one of the most underwritten treasure hunts in movie history, despite lots of pointless expository dialogue detailing the whys and wherefores of an ill-fated Spanish treasure galleon. There's also a desperate shortage of jokes, but the movie's real problem is its lack of focus -- director and co-writer Andy Tennant lavishes screen time on peripheral characters like Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart), a villainous-but-dopey rap mogul, and Gemma Honeycutt (Alexis Dziena), a borderline-sexist bimbo stereotype with daddy issues, instead of spending it developing the relationship between the two honest-to-goodness movie stars at the center of his story. The presence of expert character actors like Donald Sutherland and Ray Winstone doesn't make this interminable time-waster any easier to take, but at least everyone looks good, thanks to ace cinematographer Don Burgess, whose work includes nice underwater photography. D

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