On Fool's Gold

While Fool's Gold seems to be on the bottom of every critic's 2008 film list, considering it's only February, that's quite a small pile. And considering it's a film that's easy to attack, I'm not surprised. Don't movie reviewers get paid by the insult?

What Fool's Gold does and does well are two different things. And I'm not concerned with whether or not it compares with other films released this year as if Oscar were a caliber. As if movies are ever award-worthy.

Whether or not Juno gets an Oscar has little to do with whether or not Juno deserves an Oscar. Peel away its hipster aesthetic and quirky Wes Anderson idiosyncrasies and you have a conservative pro-life movie. I don't know so much if Juno is a well-written movie as much as it is well-dialogued. Still, this is far away from my interest which is relevancy not quality. That's why I'm interested in cultural criticism not movie reviews. What Diablo Cody does well is anchor Juno with a strong female character making her own decisions. Rarely do we see young people in movies not treated like babies, not being saved, not playing victims. And that is refreshing.

Fool's Gold is the opposite of refreshing though. But it's staleness is important because it revives the 80s romantic adventure romantic comedy. Think Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile. Also Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey have a Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell like chemistry.

What would have saved Fool's Gold is about a half hour trimmed from the plot, this could have been achieved by shaving some of the back story on the treasure for the sequel. There only needed to be one villain. Choose. Either the rapper who owns the island or the mentor who competes with McConaughey to find the treasure. Finally, the opening scene with the exploding boat was cool, but could've made for a better ending. Skip the first half hour and start the film in the courthouse with the divorce scene.

Still for all its faults, Fool's Gold is a fun movie and is the heir to the 1940s screwball comedy more than any film I've seen lately. I think the Romancing the Stone reference is key too. It is no surprise this movie involves buried treasure in the year of the return of Rambo. Hollywood is now full of producers, directors, screenwriters who grew up watching movies of the 1980s. We are in the middle of an unconscious 80s revival. Enjoy it.