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'Fool's Gold'

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BY GENE SEYMOUR | gene.seymour@newsday.com

February 8, 2008

Tess (Kate Hudson), a would-be archivist working as a steward on a rich man's yacht, says everything you need to know about "Fool's Gold" when she is trying to explain something else: "It's complex, and not in a good way." So much for basic diagnosis. The hard part comes in trying to figure out why such a pretty-looking trifle got so tangled up. I mean the movie, of course. Not Hudson's character - at least not necessarily.

At times, "Fool's Gold" looks as if it's straining to be the kind of quirky, sun-kissed action farce that made novelist Carl Hiaasen a cult hero. But it doesn't have the narrative rhythm, the imaginative cunning or the agile wit of a Hiaasen book - unless you think it's hysterical when, for what seems like the 10th time, Tess makes a sidelong allusion to the sexual prowess of her estranged husband - dashing, klutzy treasure hunter Ben "Finn" Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey).

Finn's been on the trail of something called the "Queen's Dowry," 40 chests of gold, jewels and other priceless trinkets that sank somewhere in the Caribbean in the early 18th century. In the process, he's accidentally sunk Tess' boat and gotten on the bad side of a murderous rapper-thug named Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart), who owns the island closest to where the booty was last seen.

For these and other reasons, Tess, who once shared Finn's obsession with the treasure, no longer wants any part of him, even the part that's good in bed. (Laughing yet?) But upon seeing (somewhat dubious) evidence of Finn's progress, Tess decides to recruit her billionaire boss Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland, laying on a plummy British accent) and his boat in Finn's quest to get to the prize before Bunny and his henchman.

Sounds at least like mindless fun, right? So why does it seem merely mindless? For starters, McConaughey and Hudson, despite their pairing five years earlier in the inexplicably popular (or just inexplicable) "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," seem too caught up in their respective golden auras to connect in a persuasively romantic manner. You often wish they'd get out of the way of more intriguing players, such as the redoubtable Ray Winstone as Finn's grizzled mentor-rival, or Alexis Dziena (Sharon Stone's nymphet daughter in "Broken Flowers"), who almost steals the show as Honeycutt's tabloid-baiting Hilton-esque daughter. Dziena's airhead charm gives this leaden "Gold" a desperately needed lift.

FOOL'S GOLD (PG-13). An "as-if" romantic adventure reunites "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" lovebirds Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in a sun-soaked treasure hunt that squanders everybody's time, including yours. With Donald Sutherland, Alexis Dziena, Kevin Hart, Ewen Bremner and Ray Winstone. Directed by Andy Tennant ("Hitch"). 1:52 (violence, sexual innuendo, brief nudity, mild vulgarities). At area theaters.