Three out of Five stars
Running time: 113 mins

Fools Gold is a terrible movie in many, many ways, but for all that, it's also surprisingly enjoyable, thanks to an entertaining plot and the chemistry between its two leads.

What's it all about?
Matthew McConaughey plays Finn, a frequently shirtless Key West treasure hunter who gets threatened by loan sharks and divorced by his wife (Kate Hudson as Tess) on the same day. However, Finn's luck takes an abrupt turn when he and his dim-witted sidekick (Ewen Bremner) discover a map to an 18th century Spanish shipwreck.

Knowing that Tess shares his passion for the shipwreck, Finn convinces her new billionaire boss (Donald Sutherland as Nigel Honeycutt) to fund his treasure-hunting expedition and lend him the use of his boat, with Nigel's airhead daughter Gemma (Alexis Dziena) and Tess along for the ride. However, the murderous loan sharks are hard on Finn's heels and he also faces stiff competition from his old friend-turned-rival Moe (Ray Winstone).

The Good
Despite the bad parts of the film, there's something about this nonsense that actually works: McConaughey and Hudson recapture the sparky chemistry they shared in How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days and the action-packed finale is genuinely exciting.

The Bad
It's a miracle that Fools Gold ends up being as entertaining as it is, because there's so much wrong with it that it's difficult to know where to start - for one thing, Bremner and Winstone both attempt ridiculous accents (Ukrainian and Deep South, respectively) that are actually painful to listen to. Similarly, Sutherland acts as if he's recently come off medication, while Dziena's character is extremely annoying (if, admittedly, rather cute – she was Lolita in Broken Flowers).

In addition, the tone of the film is wildly uneven throughout, veering from broad comedy to quite strong violence and back again. On top of that, Winstone's character pretty much disappears after about 30 minutes, for no adequately explained reason.

Worth seeing?
In short, Fools Gold is a genuine mystery – it shouldn't work, but it does, thanks to the chemistry between the two leads. Surprisingly entertaining.