Fool's Gold (12a)

Apr 18 2008

THIS preposterous thriller transcends its own silliness to eventually become quite watchable... in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way.

Opening like Pirates of the Caribbean-lite, Matthew McConaughey's hunt for lost gold soon turns into National Treasure set at sea.

There's also hints of James Bond amid the unrelenting whiff of Madonna's appalling Swept Away.

Even if the 112-minute script sucks, stars McConaughey and Kate Hudson provide plenty of eye-candy by stripping off at every opportunity.

As Benjamin Finnegan, McConaughey is like a walking six-pack crossed with a wild-eyed Woody Harrelson, but this is a less-accomplished Sunday-afternoon romp compared with his own Sahara.

Playing Ben's soon-to-be ex-wife Tess, Hudson is a flat-pack Goldie Hawn.

She's certainly inherited the "Bird on a Wire" gene which kept her mother's career in overdrive for so long.

Other stars foolishly playing with gold include a wasted Ewan Bremner (Trainspotting), while that old silver fox Donald Sutherland looks as if he's a Saga passenger waking up from a cruise-induced coma.

Now lacking the gravitas of The Departed and the manipulated physique of Beowulf, Ray Winstone readily proves you're only ever as good as your material.

I wouldn't take anyone under 12, but Fool's Gold at least tries to be fun.

Despite having no action track record, its director Andy Tennant (Hitch/Anna and the King) handles the climactic sea-plane sequence well.

McConaughey, who costarred with Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, survives so many scrapes the surprise is that he's not a cat in disguise.

But he, like everyone else, is saved by the splendid cinematography of Don Burgess whose hits include Forrest Gump, Contact, Cast Away, Spider-Man, Terminator 3, The Polar Express and Enchanted.

Website: www. foolsgoldmovie.com