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Fool's Gold is an 2008 American adventure-romance film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, reuniting them after How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, alongside Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, and Kevin Hart.

Finn Finnegan (McConaughey) is a treasure hunter searching for a sunken Spanish galleon, the Aurelia, that was lost at sea with the 1715 Treasure Fleet. During his search to find the galleon and its treasure, his wife Tess (Hudson) divorces him. Tess has been working as a stewardess on a yacht owned by multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Sutherland). Finn finds a clue to the location of the treasure and manages to get on Nigel Honeycutt's yacht The Precious Gem and convince him and his daughter Gemma (Alexis Dziena) to join (and finance) the search for the treasure. But Finn's mentor, Moe Fitch (Winstone), and Bigg Bunny (Hart), a gangster, are intent on finding the treasure first.


This film features examples of:

  • Affectionate Parody: Of the "treasure hunting adventure" genre. The Adventurer Archaeologist is a flat broke dreamer, his ex-wife wants out after searching for seven years with nothing to show for it, their investors are a doddering millionaire and his vapid Spoiled Brat of a daughter, and the Loan Shark is a rapper.
  • Amusing Injuries: Finn should have died from intracranial bleeding 30 minutes into the movie.
  • Babies Ever After: Finn and Tess.
  • Brainless Beauty: Gemma Honeycutt is attractive but very stupid.
  • Fourth-Date Marriage: All but stated to be the case between Finn and Tess.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: After combing the reefs for the wreck of the Aurelia for days, a comment Gemma makes about not wanting the yacht to sink "when [they're] so close to shore" brings Finn to a revelation: The ship isn't in the ocean because it was run aground and the treasure taken inland.
  • Every Car Is a Pinto: A small bike driven by Finn goes off a cliff and explodes in an absurdly massive fireball.
  • Evil Debt Collector: Bigg Bunny. Finn borrowed money from him to fix up his leaky boat and salvaging equipment, but instead used most of it to pay off his other debts. Now Bigg Bunny wants the treasure and Finn's head on a platter.
  • Genius Ditz: Cleverly played with by dim heiress Gemma. Tess has been (impatiently) coaching Gemma to be smarter than she acts, so when Gemma has a sudden brainwave as the heroes return to their yacht, the audience naturally expects some amazing insight that will find the treasure they have been searching for while confirming Gemma is more than just an airhead. Actually, Gemma has only just realized that the name of her father's ship ("The Precious Gem") is similar to her name.
  • Groin Attack: Averted. In one scene, when Finn got blasted out of the water, a sword got blasted into the air with him. It lands between Gemma's legs, the camera lingers in an up-close crotch shot when she spread her legs apart to avoid the falling sword.
    • Played straight when Tess hits Bigg Bunny in the balls with a shovel.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: When asked how he learned to fly the biplane they are riding in, Finn simply answers "PlayStation!".
  • Last-Minute Hookup: Gemma and Alfonz. He at least had formerly expressed love about her (or more exactly, expressed lust about in her in a fairly sleazy manner), but her attraction came out of absolutely nowhere (she had spent the film mooning over Finn).
    • Not true, as given that Tess is at least seven to nine months pregnant, there would've been enough time for them to get together before the opening of the museum.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Gemma Honeycutt fills this role. Gemma spends I great deal of the movie wearing a cute Striped two piece swimsuit. That is not even mentioning the infamous falling sword between the leg scene, with the camera lingering in an up-close view of her crotch.
  • Shirtless Scene: One of the many 2000s films in which Matthew McConaughey did these.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Alfonz and Bigg Bunny both think the plate shard Finn found looks like it's from a Howard Johnson's Hotel.
  • Upper-Class Twit: Gemma Honeycutt is a dimwitted, celebutante heiress.

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