Fool's Gold

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Fool's Gold" (Warner Bros.) is a mostly dull, exceedingly routine lost-treasure tale.

The mostly shirtless Matthew McConaughey plays Ben "Finn" Finnegan, a smart but perennially ill-fated treasure hunter who is close to finding his lifelong goal: ancient Spanish treasure chests laden with gold and jewels.

In the film's opening scenes, he manages to sink his own boat off a Caribbean island while he's blithely exploring the ocean floor, where he finds an antique plate that confirms the treasure in near.

When he brings the prized relic to his investor -- small-time gangster Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart) -- the latter decides to claim the loot himself and instructs his henchmen, Curtis (Brian Hooks) and Cordell (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), to dispatch Finn to the briny deep.

Meanwhile, Finn's wife, Tess (Kate Hudson), who once shared his enthusiasm for the quest and is now steward on the luxurious yacht of billionaire Nigel Honeycutt (an English-accented Donald Sutherland), is about to go through with divorce proceedings against her irresponsible husband. Since Finn's run-in with Bigg's goons makes him late for the hearing, the divorce goes through without him, and Tess is deaf to pleas for a reconciliation.

Soon after, Finn retrieves the windblown hat that flies off the head of Gemma (Alexis Dziena), Nigel's impossibly pampered, empty-headed daughter. He's injured in the process, which prompts the girl to bring him to Daddy's yacht. There he meets the incredulous Tess, and the pair eventually regale Nigel and Gemma with the history of the so-called "queen's dowry" -- lost at sea in 1715 -- and before long, they share Finn's enthusiasm for the hunt.

The expected Tess-Gemma rivalry never materializes, with Tess assuming more of a mentor role to Gemma and teaching her she doesn't have to "play dumb to get what she wants." And, of course, the script makes it clear that, divorce or not, Finn and Tess are still crazy about each other.

Meanwhile, Bigg has hired Finn's old mentor, Foe (Ray Winstone), to locate the treasure and the narrative becomes a frantic race to see who gets to it first.

There's a lot of comic violence -- McConaughey is whacked in the head more times than you can count -- but despite Bigg's attempts on Finn's life, the tone is mostly lighthearted throughout.

The amiable stars, eye-filling aquatic scenery and moral wrap-up (especially the father-daughter bonding between Nigel and the not-so-shallow-after-all Gemma) are pluses, but the script -- co-written by director Andy Tennant along with John Claflin and Daniel Zelman -- is generally witless and bogged down by exposition, while the action sequences are lively but never truly exciting.

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The film contains some uses of the s-word and brief profanity, a few crass expressions, moderate action violence, an implied sexual encounter in an abandoned church, and some light sexual banter. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops