CRITIC'S CORNER
All that glitters certainly isn't gold and neither is McConaughey's 'Fool's Gold'
By DNA Smith
"Fool's Gold" Running time: 112 minutes MPAA rating: PG-13

Matthew McConaughey, left, and Kate Hudson star in 'Fool's Gold.'

Maybe I was asleep during the Romantic Comedy lecture at Movie Critics School, but I'm pretty sure that romantic comedies are supposed to be 1) Romantic and 2) Funny.

The ridiculous, poorly written, horribly acted "Fool's Gold" is billed as a romantic comedy, but is neither. And yes, it is ridiculous. Kate Hudson as a doctoral candidate? Please. Paris Hilton's dog could pull a higher GPA.

As far as romantic chemistry between Hudson and Matthew McConaughey goes, you'd see more attraction between a block of wood and a doughnut.

The plot, such as it is, involves Hudson and McConaughey as a recently divorced couple on a search for a trove of 18th-century Spanish treasure. It is a race between them and a gangster rapper to see who finds the gold first.

The couple are supposed to be constantly bickering at each other, a la "Romancing the Stone," but it really doesn't work because the lines aren't funny.

Throw into the mix a gazillionaire (Donald Sutherland) and his bimbo daughter (Alexis Dziena, whom the filmmakers think is sexy, but is just annoying); a middle-aged gay couple; and Theo Huxtable as an evil henchman, and you've got the ingredients for one convoluted mess of a movie.

Honestly, the only thing that would make this movie worse would be to add Larry the Cable Guy and a few singing chimpmunks to the cast.

To tell the truth, I didn't even watch the entire movie (I gave up after about an hour and 10 minutes). I couldn't make it to the end; I suggest you never see the beginning. Or the middle. Or ... you get it.

GRADE: F

(c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.