Fool's Gold

Review by David Woodward

Fool’s Gold is a story that revolves around the whereabouts of a lost Spanish treasure rekindling a newly divorced couple's sense of adventure and romance.

It is a rollicking action/adventure/romance which is essentially Romancing the Stone meets The Deep - and little else.

Queensland (primarily Port Douglas) is used to represent Florida’s Key West and it does a surprisingly good job too! The weathered buildings, tropical jungles and white sandy coastlines are a major factor in creating a light and bright setting for the action scenes that play out regularly throughout the film. If you’ve ever been up north, you’ll enjoy playing ‘spot the location’.

While the action is plentiful (with some particularly well-shot sequences throughout the last half of the film), the storyline seems to falter on several occasions  - especially when the main characters get bogged down explaining the background to the treasure hunt and/or working out their romantic problems.

Let's just say that Fool's Gold could have done with the 'Golden' touch of tighter editing (the loss of at least 5-10 minutes would do the trick) in order to make the end product more evenly paced!

Matthew McConaughey is his normal easy-going self playing the experienced, but rough-around-the-edges, treasure hunter. His ‘surfer’ look is ideal for this sort of role. To me, he actually looks like he’s enjoying himself, not taking acting too seriously (or perhaps just stoned again...) and (apparently) doing many of his own stunts.

McConaughey has found the perfect female lead to offset his stock-in-trade character: Kate Hudson. Her strong willed attitude and quick wit bounces off McConaughey whenever they are on screen together, it's electric. She does, however, have a habit of exaggerating her facial expressions when doing her close-ups, which becomes quite annoying over time to say the least.

The other big name co-star here is Donald Sutherland who has plenty of screen time but for some odd reason, does very little by way of actually contributing to the plot. It has been reported that Sutherland was not provided with much of a back story for his character when he first took the part and so he invented one for himself. This can be the only possible reason why he puts on such a ridiculous and out-of-place British accent that simply doesn't suit him at all. Perhaps he took the part to enjoy an extended holiday in Queensland’s far north!

There are several other well-known faces (including some Australians masquerading as Americans) appearing in roles throughout the film, again, adding to the enjoyment of the "Spot Australia" game.

While not a great movie, Fool’s Gold is not without its charms and comfortably sits in the "Good Friday Night Out" film niche that tends to guarantee an occasional smile, a few gasps at the action sequences and an appreciation of what Australia has to offer in terms of scenic coastline up north!

3 out of 5

Fool's Gold
Australian release: 7th February, 2008
Cast: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Donald Sutherland, Ewen Bremner
Director: Andy Tennant
Website: Official Site