'Fool's Gold' Not Fooling Critics
Evin Fritschle
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: Life & Style
For once, every mean, harsh, horrible, no-good, very bad thing I could dream up to say about a movie has already been said. The latest romantic comedy to hit the theatres, "Fool's Gold," starring dreamboat Matthew McConaughey and hottie Kate Hudson, has been thrashed from here to the sandy beaches on which the film is suppose to take place.
It's been close to a decade since Hudson and McConaughey paired up for their last romantic comedy, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." Unfortunately it appears that over the years, writer/director Andy Tennant has lost his touch. Tennant has a decent list of credits in the genre, as well, including "Hitch" and "Sweet Home Alabama."
With two actors, who displayed strong and funny on-screen chemistry in the past, paired up with a director with some solid weight to his metaphorical britches, some would wonder how a movie with so much potential could have turned out to be so horrible.
The supporting roles in the film weren't cast all that poorly, but lesser-known actors Ewen Bremner ("Trainspotting," "Black Hawk Down") and Ray Winstone ("Cold Mountain," "Beowulf") couldn't really carry the film. Even veteran actor Donald Sutherland, who has appeared in about 100 films during a career spanning more than 40 years, couldn't make up for a lackluster and drab script.
With two stars that seem more occupied with working on their tans and their abs than on their acting, the film falls flat on its face.
New York Post critic Lou Lumenick seems to have hit the nail on the head, saying "the title of the excruciatingly lame and laughless romantic comedy/adventure 'Fool's Gold' surely deserves some kind of an award for truth in advertising."
Despite the critics' utter thrashing of almost every aspect of this film, the movie easily took the prize in the box office on Friday. (Figures for Saturday and Sunday were not available at the time of writing.)
The likely driving force for the box office take will be the teen crowd, who are a sometimes-underappreciated group with respect to their box-office spending power. Granted, as I would surmise any reader who has worked in a movie theatre will likely agree, the teen crowd doesn't seem to spend much more than the cost of admission, which Mom and Dad might have forked over just to avoid two more hours of nagging.
Another potential power will be the TV interviews on every entertainment-related show, which have shown the two stars saying how much fun the film was to work on and how much they enjoyed working with one another, the director and everyone in the cast, and their little dog, too.
Regardless, most moviegoers are better off saving their money, or splurging on a case of something fancy like Miller or Coors instead of PBR or Milwaukee's Best this week.
It's been close to a decade since Hudson and McConaughey paired up for their last romantic comedy, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." Unfortunately it appears that over the years, writer/director Andy Tennant has lost his touch. Tennant has a decent list of credits in the genre, as well, including "Hitch" and "Sweet Home Alabama."
With two actors, who displayed strong and funny on-screen chemistry in the past, paired up with a director with some solid weight to his metaphorical britches, some would wonder how a movie with so much potential could have turned out to be so horrible.
The supporting roles in the film weren't cast all that poorly, but lesser-known actors Ewen Bremner ("Trainspotting," "Black Hawk Down") and Ray Winstone ("Cold Mountain," "Beowulf") couldn't really carry the film. Even veteran actor Donald Sutherland, who has appeared in about 100 films during a career spanning more than 40 years, couldn't make up for a lackluster and drab script.
With two stars that seem more occupied with working on their tans and their abs than on their acting, the film falls flat on its face.
New York Post critic Lou Lumenick seems to have hit the nail on the head, saying "the title of the excruciatingly lame and laughless romantic comedy/adventure 'Fool's Gold' surely deserves some kind of an award for truth in advertising."
Despite the critics' utter thrashing of almost every aspect of this film, the movie easily took the prize in the box office on Friday. (Figures for Saturday and Sunday were not available at the time of writing.)
The likely driving force for the box office take will be the teen crowd, who are a sometimes-underappreciated group with respect to their box-office spending power. Granted, as I would surmise any reader who has worked in a movie theatre will likely agree, the teen crowd doesn't seem to spend much more than the cost of admission, which Mom and Dad might have forked over just to avoid two more hours of nagging.
Another potential power will be the TV interviews on every entertainment-related show, which have shown the two stars saying how much fun the film was to work on and how much they enjoyed working with one another, the director and everyone in the cast, and their little dog, too.
Regardless, most moviegoers are better off saving their money, or splurging on a case of something fancy like Miller or Coors instead of PBR or Milwaukee's Best this week.
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