Matt Damon does a mean Matthew McConaughey impersonation. The two hung out when they were struggling actors trying to break into the business, giving the former ample opportunity to study the latter’s casual mannerisms. According to Damon’s spot-on imitation, the chiselled McConaughey spends most of his time looking for an excuse to take off his shirt. Barbecue in the backyard? No shirt required. Church services on a Sunday morning? Leave the shirt at home.

This helps explain McConaughey’s presence in Fool’s Gold. The adventure-comedy is as pretty as it is dumb, but seeing as how it is set in the Caribbean, it does allow McConaughey ample opportunity to flex his pecs and sun his shoulders. Too bad for us it offers little else.

Only fools will part with gold, silver, or even copper pennies for a ticket to this disaster, which casts McConaughey as Finn, a single-minded treasure seeker whose marriage to Tess (Kate Hudson) ended up on the rocks because he couldn’t stop diving for doubloons. Before they divorced, the two came close to finding a fortune in Spanish treasure that reportedly sank in a ship off the coast of the Florida Keys. Now, with help from an eccentric billionaire (Donald Sutherland) and his dim-witted daughter (Alexis Dziena), they’re giving the hunt – and their relationship – one last shot.

Director Andy Tennant is a competent filmmaker (Hitch; Ever After) who has made a bad film. Gold has no sense of adventure, and no thrills worth seeking. Scenes drag on too long and lead nowhere. Tennant applies a leaden touch to what needed to be a light caper. Stock characters are broadly drawn, from the murderous rap star (Kevin Hart) to whom Finn owes money to the rival treasure seeker (Ray Winstone) racing the couple to the gold. Sutherland plays his character as if he is hiding some big secret (he isn’t). Dziena acts with her body. Hudson and McConaughey coast on what little chemistry they have, long since seen in other movies like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Sean O’Connell