Fool's Gold

Fool's Gold

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andy Tennant
Produced by Donald De Line
Written by John Claflin
Daniel Zelman
Andy Tennant
Starring Matthew McConaughey
Kate Hudson
Donald Sutherland
Tiffany Grant
Ewen Bremner
Ray Winstone
Cinematography Don Burgess
Editing by Troy Takaki
Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Distributed by Summit Entertainment (distributor), Warner Bros. Pictures (co-distributor)
Release date(s) February 8, 2008
Country United States
Language English
Budget $70 Million
Gross revenue Domestic:
$70,231,041
Worldwide:
$109,231,041
Rental Gross:
--
DVD Sales:
--
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
Fool's Gold is an 2008 adventure/romance film from Warner Bros. Pictures about a married couple who rekindle their romantic life while searching for a lost treasure. The film was directed by Andy Tennant and reunites the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days stars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. The MPAA rated the film PG-13 for action violence, some sexual material, brief nudity and language.

Contents [hide]
1 Plot synopsis
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Critical reception
5 Box office performance
6 DVD release
7 References
8 External links



[edit] Plot synopsis
Benjamin "Finn" Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey) is a treasure hunter looking for 40 chests of treasure known as the "Queen's Dowry", that was lost at sea with the 1715 Treasure Fleet. In his search to find the treasure, his marriage to Tess (Kate Hudson) falls apart. Tess has been working as a steward on a huge yacht owned by multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland). Finn finds a clue to the location of the treasure and manages to get on Honeycutt's yacht ("The Precious Gem") and convince him, his daughter Gemma (Alexis Dziena) and Tess to join him in searching for the treasure. A local gangster named Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart) and Finn's mentor Moe Fitch (Ray Winstone) are intent on finding the treasure first.

The Precious Gem and Moe's vessel compete to find the treasure in The Bahamas. As Finn attempts to secretly take down Moe's search grid, Finn discovers a sword which is a clue to finding the treasure. Finn and Tess follow the clues to an ancient church and discover a grave containing a diary describing the location of the treasure. Bigg Bunny and his associates, who have been following Finn and Tess, take Tess hostage and assume (incorrectly) that Finn was killed. Bigg Bunny forces Tess to aid him in the search for the treasure in a blowhole, the location revealed in the diary. Tess finds the treasure in a cave beneath the blowhole. Meanwhile, Finn and the Honeycutt enlist the help of Moe in taking the treasure out of Bigg Bunny's hands. They arrive as Bigg Bunny sends one of his associates to bring him the treasure, and the other to take out Moe as he swim towards Bigg Bunny's floatplane. The blowhole kills Bigg Bunny's employee and traps Tess and Finn, while Moe tries to stop Bigg Bunny from taking off. Finn saves Tess only to have Bigg Bunny kidnap her from him again. Gemma gets Finn to Bigg Bunny's plane on her personal water craft and Finn leaps on the planes pontoon as the plane takes off. As Bigg Bunny attempts to shoot Finn, Tess kicks Bigg Bunny out of the plane and sends him into the ocean. The final Bigg Bunny employee, is taken prisoner by Moe (after he has shot Moe in the leg with a speargun).

Finn and Tess are reunited and save the treasure together. Finn, Tess, Nigel, Gemma, Moe and those who contributed in helping or finding the treasure open a museum displaying all of their finds.


[edit] Cast
Matthew McConaughey - Ben 'Finn' Finnegan
Kate Hudson - Tess Finnegan
Donald Sutherland - Nigel Honeycutt
Alexis Dziena - Gemma Honeycutt
Ray Winstone - Moe Fitch
Kevin Hart - Bigg Bunny
Ewen Bremner - Alfonz
Brian Hooks - Curtis
Malcolm-Jamal Warner - Cordell
Roger Sciberras - Andras

[edit] Production
Warner Bros. and director Andy Tennant planned to shoot the film in the Caribbean, but decided on Queensland because the hurricane season in the Caribbean was likely to stall production of the film. The Key West scenes were filmed in Port Douglas. Filming also took place in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Hamilton Island, Lizard Island, Airlie Beach, and Hervey Bay. Scenes were also filmed at Batt Reef, where Steve Irwin died from a stingray barb in 2006.[1]

Inside scenes were shot on a sound stage at the Warner Bros studio facility and the actors and crew stayed in luxury homes and apartments on the Gold Coast. McConaughey mentioned having a python in the backyard of his house in Port Douglas. McConaughey said, "There were other days like the day we went out diving and swam with a dugong, which was very cool."[1]

Two crew members were stung by Irukandji jellyfish during filming, so some of the water scenes were shot in the Caribbean because the actors were so frightened.[1]

The Precious Gem luxury motor yacht in the movie is called the Keri Lee in real life. It is owned and operated by Lee Group Charters.[2]


[edit] Critical reception
The film received vastly negative reviews from critics. As of March 2, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 10% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 110 reviews.[3] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 29 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.[4]

Several critics compared the film unfavorably to National Treasure[5][6][7][8] and Romancing the Stone.[6][9][8]. Some critics referred to the film as "tedious"[10][6][11] and "listless."[10][12][11]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero stars out of 4 and said "Paris Hilton's appalling" The Hottie and the Nottie is "marginally better." Travers wrote "I defy any 2008 comedy to be as stupid, slack and sexless" as Fool's Gold.[5]

Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film 1 star out of 4 and called it "excruciatingly lame." Lumenick said "It's all basically an excuse to show off the scenery", including McConaughey's abs.[10]

Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 1 1/2 stars out of 4 and said it "plays like a Three Stooges movie with scuba gear.", but that "a Three Stooges movie is enlightened next to this one." Rickey described McConaughey as "perennially shirtless" and Hudson as "peculiarly mirthless."[7]

Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat gave the film 1 1/2 stars and said "the resolution is never in doubt, the villains are comedic rather than menacing, and no one involved seems to care one way or the other that their names are attached to this indifferent mess." Vonder Haar said McConaughey plays Finn "as Sahara's Dirk Pitt minus the SEAL training and a few million brain cells." and asked "Does McConaughey have some codicil in his contract stipulating he must spend at least 51% of a movie shirtless?"[13]

Sid Smith of the Chicago Tribune gave it 2 stars out of 4 and said the characters "are comic book clichés." Smith said "the outcome is predictable" and "The wasted talents include Sutherland, affecting a hokey British accent, and hatchet-faced Ewen Bremner."[8]

Brian Lowry of Variety said "The lure of Matthew McConaughey shirtless for extended stretches doubtless has some marketing value, but after that, Fool's Gold offers small compensation." Lowry wrote "At times the pic feels like a comedic version of The Deep, only without the comedy." Lowry said the tropic scenery was well-shot but said "there's not much chemistry" between McConaughey and Hudson.[12]

Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times called it a "cheesy, familiar bore" and said it "feels at times like a third-rate Bond movie set to a Jimmy Buffett album." Chocano said "Hudson is the best thing about the movie. She has a likable, grounded presence and sharp comic timing."[9]

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave the film a "C+" and called it "the kind of thing people watch because it's the in-flight movie." Rabin called the repeated mentions of Finn's sexual prowess "a delightfully unnecessary move." Rabin said the film "outstays its welcome by a good 20 minutes" and called it "extravagantly stupid", but that the film's strengths were the "photogenic locales, obscenely beautiful stars, a laid-back soundtrack" and an unwillingness to take itself seriously.[14]

Lou Lumenick said the ending was "surprisingly bloody"[10] and Brian Lowry said the ending is "a little more violent than necessary" and "a bit grittier than it should be tonally, as if we've detoured into a different movie."[12]

Simon Braund of Empire magazine gave the film 1 star out of 5 and called it "Absolute tosh. A ridiculous, unerringly tedious plot is weighed down by listless performances from a cast who clearly wished they were somewhere else, despite the sumptuous location"[11]