FOOL'S GOLD — * 1/2 — Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland; rated PG-13 (violence, profanity, vulgarity, brief sex, brief partial nudity)
The makers of "Fool's Gold" certainly know their target audience.
For the ladies, there are plenty of scenes of Matthew McConaughey running around shirtless. And for men, there are a few scenes featuring a scantily clad Kate Hudson as well.
Now if only that level of intelligence and planning had gone into the film itself. This charmless romantic comedy-adventure is pretty dumb — dumber even than the recent "National Treasure" sequel, if that's possible.
Also, there's a surprising mean streak to this silliness, and over the final couple of reels the film turns much too serious for its own good.
McConaughey and Hudson star as Ben and Tess Finnegan, a squabbling couple that is reunited during a search for lost Spanish treasure.
Ben believes he's finally found the location of legendary Queen's Dowry, but he needs equipment to salvage it.
Tess's millionaire employer, Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland) has a huge yacht and plenty of cash. So Ben tries to use his charms to convince him to finance the scheme — and he also uses Nigel's bored socialite daughter, Gemma (Alexis Dziena), as leverage.
But unbeknownst to the others, Ben has run afoul of local rapper-gangster Bigg Bunny (Chris Tucker look-alike Kevin Hart), and has promised to give the treasure to him.
The movie may have only three credited screenwriters, including director Andy Tennant, but is surprisingly overwritten. A scene in which the leads attempt to explain the missing treasure plot is so full of unnecessary exposition that it may wind up confusing viewers.
And the laid-back McConaughey isn't very convincing as a fast-talking schemer.
Still, at least his accent is real. Sutherland is passable as a rich Brit, but Ray Winstone can't pull off a Southern good-old-boy, Ewen Bremner mumbles as a Ukrainian dimwit and Malcolm-Jamal Warner is apparently supposed to be a Jamaican.
"Fool's Gold" is rated PG-13 for strong scenes of violent action (shootings, vehicular and explosive mayhem and some violence against women), some comic slapstick, occasional profanity and crude sexual language (references and other suggestive talk), brief simulated sex and brief partial male and female nudity. Running time: 110 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com