Screenhead

Well, folks, we’re neck deep in February.  And if you’re living in the Northern Hemisphere that means you too are neck deep in cold and snow and slush and general icy foulness as far as you can see.  It’s times like these you wish you had a nice warm-weather romp to get the chill out of the air and out of your bones, so why not try a movie?

When the cold starts getting to me–and let’s face it, a couple months living in the deep freeze can get to just about anybody–one of my personal favorites of late is a recent Matthew McConaughey title called Fool’s Gold.

Sure, it’s a bit simplistic as movies go.  Basically, a loser and his very recently exed wife are hunting for a legendary Spanish fortune known as the Queen’s Dowry, a massive stockpile of gold and assorted precious stones in various sizes and configurations worth about half a billion dollars.  Naturally, he’s not the only one in the hunt for it, as a homicidal rapper who owns a nearby island is also looking for it and he’s hired some serious characters to make sure he gets his.  It’s a race to the finish to see who can unearth a slice of history, and a pile of loot to go with it.

If you’re thinking this sounds a bit like that Paul Walker / Jessica Alba wreckage Into the Blue, well, you’re right.  The substantial difference here is that Fool’s Gold takes itself much less seriously than Into the Blue did, and includes plenty of humor to cut its dramatic tension.

And there will be plenty of both.  Lots of comedy, both subtle and “hurr hurr he got kicked in the junk” humor, is present throughout the movie.  Also, plenty of dramatic tension in the form of intrateam squabbling and various family crises will abound.

Oh, sure…the plot is simplistic, and it’ll often drag you along through leaps of logic as a whole bunch of mismatched individuals come together to go hunting for treasure.  Even the laws of physics will work against Fool’s Gold at some points.  But in terms of just feeling good, well, there’s not a whole lot of movies that quite do it like this one.  And that’s a surprise to say.

This one, before getting the video release, was put out back in February of 2008.  Just last year, in fact–guess they saw it coming before anyone else did.  There’s just not much better cure for feeling cold and feeling blue than watching pretty people tear around a pretty tropical island searching for pretty jewelry.  This is likely why Confessions of a Shopaholic came out when it did.

Fool’s Gold is brain candy, pure and simple.  If you’re willing to overlook some pretty nasty plot holes and just imagine yourself on that tropical island hunting for gold for a while, you’ll walk away feeling pretty good afterward.  If you insist on coherence and logical plotlines, however, then you won’t have any fun on this cheesy little ride and you’ll probably walk away wishing you’d watched Slumdog Millionaire again or something.

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