Movie Review, by Skip Sheffield

Published February 8th, 2007

By Skip Sheffield
STAFF WRITER

Beautiful People Play in Paradise in Comedy-Adventure “Fool’s Gold”

Two beautiful people play hard to get in the treasure-hunting romantic comedy, “Fool’s Gold.”
Matthew McConaughy has evidently been working out. He has never looked studlier than he does as Ben “Finn” Finnegan, an itinerant, often shirtless Florida treasure hunter.

Cutie Kate Hudson plays Finn’s estranged wife, Tess.

Tess has reached the end of her tether over Finn’s irresponsible, foolhardy ways. She wants to go back to college and complete her PhD in history, and to earn the money she has taken a jump as flunky for a mega-millionaire, Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland), who lives aboard his huge yacht.

Finn thinks he has located the wreck of a Spanish ship that went down in 1715 with a $500 million queen’s dowry of gold, silver and precious stones.

The wreck is located off a small island in the Bahamas that is controlled by Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart), a greedy local gangster. Worse, Finn is already $62,000 in debt to Bigg, who wants his money back by any means. Complicating matters further is the fact Finn’s former mentor, treasure salver Moe Fitch (Ray Winstone), is on the trail of the ship too.
When Finn is invited aboard Nigel’s yacht complications romantic and criminal follow.

Needless to say the scenery is beautiful both on land and at sea, and McConaughy and Hudson have good chemistry. Comic relief is provided by tiny, cute-as-a-button Alexis Dziena as Nigel’s spoiled rich daughter and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (“Bill Cosby Show”) and Brian Hooks as bumbling thugs. There are some really cool stunts on land, in the water, and in the air. It may be fluff but it’s fun.

Two and a half stars

Four Famous Females Battle in “Bonneville”

“Bonneville” refers both to the top-of-the-line Pontiac car and the salt flats in Utah.

Lawyer-turned screenwriter Daniel D. Davis visited Florida this week to show the film at four Century Village complexes.
“We had some very lively Q and As,” Davis reports. “The people were just lovely, and they asked good questions too.”
“Bonneville” was written as a tribute to Davis’ grandmother Arvilla, who was married to a man 25 years her senior. When he died at age 94, she s so grief-stricken she died several months later.

When Jessica Lange expressed n interest in the role, Davis rewrote it for a younger, divorced woman. Davis wrote the role of Arvilla’s wisecracking friend Margene expressly for Kathy Bates, who accepted. Playing Arvilla’s disapproving sister Carol is another noted actress, Joan Allen. Completing this Estrogen-fueled mix is Christine Baranski as the greedy, controlling second wife of Arvilla’s recently-deceased husband.

A cherry 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible that has an important but non-speaking role was recently auctioned for charity in Las Vegas. Visit Bonnevillethemovie.com.

Three stars

More New Releases

Other new releases are the Martin Lawrence family comedy “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins,” John Sayles’ worthy roots-of-rock tribute “Honeydripper,” Broadway star Frank Langella’s tour-de-force “Starting Out in the Evening” and finally the controversial documentary, “Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains.”