Fool’s Gold (2008/Warner Blu-ray +
DVD)
Picture:
A-/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: C- Film: D
While I
have never really been a fan of Kate Hudson I have always enjoyed Matthew
McConaughey and wish that he would venture away from the chick-flicks for a bit
and do roles that are more in-line with what he is capable of. Roles like Amistad or even the action/fantasy Reign of Fire would be better than bombs like Fool’s Gold, which if the trailers didn’t look bad enough, believe
it or not the entire 112-minute film is just as bad if not worse.
The plot
alone is just backwards and silly as our two leads play a just divorced couple
who verbally joust back and forth as they attempt to find treasure together in
the Caribbean in order to pay back gangster (get this) Bigg Bunny! Ha.
The film tries desperate to be a mix between Indiana Jones/Romancing the Stone and War of the Roses, but falls flat with
the lame one-liners that were laced throughout the trailer. The chemistry between the leads wears thin
and the film runs way too long on fumes.
The
Blu-ray and DVD present the film in an anamorphic 2.40 X 1 transfer with the
Blu-way winning out by offering the film in true 1080p High Definition and
looks stunning, despite how poor the film is.
This is one of the better transfers that I have seen for a romantic
comedy and the Caribbean looks realistic with depth, detail, and color fidelity
that the DVD can’t muster. Unfortunately
the audio mix isn’t as stunning as the picture as we get a very basic Dolby Digital
5.1 mix on both the Blu-ray and the DVD and it would have been nice to get at
least an uncompressed PCM mix at the very least.
Extras
are identical on both discs, which included a self-indulgent feature about the
so-called chemistry of the leads and a gag-reel, which at this point for most
people will live up to it’s name. We can
only hope that these two stars can jump start their careers again and do work
that is more up to their caliber.
- Nate Goss
