Fool's Gold 2008

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: This movie feels very generic and very, very long; after it's over, you might need a little sunscreen for your brain. Read more

Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune: Fool's Gold is a movie that keeps reminding you of its antecedents, all the way back to 1984 and the comic adventure Romancing the Stone. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [A] sorry deep-sea adventure. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Fool's Gold is a disposable beach paperback of a movie, easy to digest and even easier to forget. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: The film exec who apparently thought that these two were the next Tracy and Hepburn was sadly mistaken. Heck, Matthew and Kate aren't even the new Frankie and Annette. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: When I was bored watching it (which is to say often) I thought about admiring the hard work McConaughey did for this picture and how all that work appears to have gone into his abs. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Anything can happen -- anything except anything remotely entertaining. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: You might even forget you're watching a movie and think you're having flashbacks to Us Weekly. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Several good actors turn up to no particular effect -- including Ray Winstone as Finn's surly mentor, and Donald Sutherland as a mega-yacht-owning billionaire. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: What didn't figure into the equation was fresh writing. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It is such a prefabricated, false-feeling, scattered and awkward stab at a romantic comedy you feel embarrassed for everyone involved and sorry for anyone who spends money on a ticket expecting a decent date movie. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Let's just say that enjoyment, even trashy enjoyment, is not to be sneered at. Boredom, on the other hand, is -- and that's the real crime committed by the dead-in-the-water Fool's Gold. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The physical spark between the two shaggy blondes that made How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days the perfect airplane movie is 20 fathoms under sea. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Watching a movie this life-sucking, you start to scour the surroundings for something -- anything -- to hold your interest. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: 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. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Nothing about the movie is memorable, unless you happen to be McConaughey's undoubtedly proud personal trainer. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: At least costume designer Ngila Dickson didn't have to work too hard on McConaughey's wardrobe. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The movie lost me right from the beginning, when I couldn't accept any of its plot premises and didn't believe in any of its characters. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The movie winds up as a lot of pretty people sitting around a movie set waiting for a director and writers to strike comic or romantic gold. At least their tans were 24 karat. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: I can't think of why anyone would want to endure this soggy mess. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It would be nice to say that Hudson and McConaughey connect the same way they did in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but the fitful chemistry from that film has all but evaporated here. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: A semi-adventure and even less of a romantic comedy, only pretends to whip up excitement. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: So intricate, so convoluted and so full of various character names that it becomes impossible to follow. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: There are several dazzlingly pretty but profoundly dumb characters in Fool's Gold, characteristics they share with the film itself. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Darel Jevens, Chicago Sun-Times: It's a mindless Funjet excursion that doesn't take as long, cost as much or leave you as sunburned. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's so riddled with complications and exposition (a queen's dowry, hurricanes, libraries in Spain) you wish the audience had just been handed an appendix and footnotes that covered the boring parts. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's not a complete power failure, but it's close. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: I succumbed to the very occasional charms of this fair, good-natured romcom adventure and left the screening in quite a good mood. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Not only do we not care about the lost treasure, their characters aren't developed enough for us to give a hoot, so nothing about this story strikes gold. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Fool's Gold offers small compensation -- a listless romantic comedy that, almost out of desperation, turns a little more violent than necessary near the end. Read more

Variety: Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: That two of the three scribes responsible for Fool's Gold have previously specialized in horror makes perfect sense. Read more