Not all that glitters is Gold
GOLD
Time: 2 hrs
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Stephen Gaghan
IN AN adventure drama inspired by true events, Matthew McConaughey and Edgar Ramirez star as business partners whose underdog mining enterprise puts them on the high-finance map.
Kenny Wells, the indefatigable wildcat prospector at the centre of Gold, is a classic American striver – but without the classic American sheen. Potbellied, balding, snaggletoothed, hard-drinking and chainsmoking, he’s played by Matthew McConaughey with a marrow-deep understanding of what makes this desperate dreamer tick.
Beyond the actor’s striking physical transformation, his aptly showy turn is the stuff of muck, sweat and dreams, and every instant of it burns true. As robust as the lead performance is, though, the movie around it, directed by Stephen Gaghan from a screenplay by Patrick Massett and John Zinman, too often feels serviceable rather than inspired.
The story of Wells’s Indonesian venture with a legendary geologist (Edgar Ramirez), their discovery of gold deposits of historic proportions and their subsequent tangles with Wall Street bears all the earmarks of sure-fire Oscar lure, at least on paper.
Taking its plot line cues from a 1997 mining scandal involving Canadian outfit Bre-X, the feature relocates the home-company action from Calgary to Reno, a setting that perfectly underscores the gambler impulse that defines the main character.
A 1981 prologue shows Kenny in the glow of McConaughey-familiar looks and swagger as his father (Craig T Nelson) places key account responsibilities in his hands.
But the main action takes place seven years later, amid a general economic downturn and the bottom of the barrel for Kenny, who has lost his house and is living with long-time girlfriend Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard), a sturdy salt-of-the-earth type.
What’s left of Washoe county operates out of the bar where she waitresses, and bankers won’t give Kenny the time of day.
The screenplay by TV vets Massett and Zinman (Friday Night Lights), whose only previous produced feature is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, has an assured grasp of mining and finance lingo. And McConaughey excels at drawing unexpected music from his lines. But the movie leans too much on his voice-over, giving the narrative a cobbled-together feel rather than a full-throttle rush.
Whether in the booth of a dingy bar or on a jungle river, Wells approaches life with a headlong fervour that makes him suspect. But he’s no flimflam man; he’s a believer.
McConaughey has said that his father was an inspiration for his performance, which ranks among his best. The actor’s intensity never flags.
What’s missing from this story of struggle and glory and the need to believe is a fever to match his. – Hollywood Reporter