Gold

There is a specific kind of desperation that only a man with a receding hairline and a cheap suit can project. In the opening frames of Gold, we don't see the tanned, "alright-alright-alright" version of Matthew McConaughey that graced the covers of tabloids for decades. Instead, we get Kenny Wells: a chain-smoking, bourbon-swilling prospector with a pronounced potbelly and a set of prosthetic teeth that look like they’ve been marinated in coffee since the late seventies. It’s a performance that feels like it’s sweating through the screen, and honestly, I could almost smell the stale cigarettes in my living room while watching it.

I actually watched this for the first time on a Tuesday night while my roommate was in the kitchen trying to fix a leaky sink with a wrench and a YouTube tutorial. The rhythmic clink-clink-clink of metal on metal ended up being the perfect percussive soundtrack for a movie that is essentially about men hitting rocks in the dirt hoping for a miracle.

The McConaissance Afterparty

By 2016, the "McConaissance" was starting to settle into its second act. After the highs of Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective, Matthew McConaughey was clearly looking for roles that allowed him to chew the scenery—and here, he’s practically swallowing it whole. As Kenny Wells, he’s the soul of the film, a third-generation mining wash-out trying to save his family business, Washoe Mining, from the brink of extinction.

He teams up with a geologist named Michael Acosta, played with a cool, understated intensity by Edgar Ramírez (Carlos, Joy). Their chemistry is the strongest part of the movie; Acosta is the brains, the man who believes in "the magmatic copper-gold porphyry," while Wells is the heart, or perhaps more accurately, the gut. They head into the uncharted jungles of Indonesia, and it’s here that director Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) is at his best. The film captures that muddy, humid, "everything is trying to kill you" vibe of 70s adventure cinema. You can feel the malaria-induced delirium.

However, the film’s biggest crime is that McConaughey’s prosthetic teeth have more screen presence than Bryce Dallas Howard. As Kay, Wells’ long-suffering girlfriend, Howard is given almost nothing to do except look worried in a series of 80s outfits. It’s a classic "wife at home" role that feels particularly dated in a film released in 2016, especially when you consider Howard’s talent in projects like Black Mirror or Jurassic World.

A Modern Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

Gold wants very badly to be a modern-day The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or even a spiritual cousin to The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s obsessed with the "hustle." When the duo actually strikes gold, the movie shifts from a jungle survival story to a corporate thriller. This is where things get a bit messy. We’re introduced to the vultures of Wall Street, including a briefcase-carrying Timothy Simons (Veep) and Michael Landes, who want to strip Wells of his find.

The cinematography by Robert Elswit—the man who shot the definitive oil-prospecting masterpiece There Will Be Blood—is predictably gorgeous. He manages to make the beige boardrooms of Reno look just as treacherous as the Indonesian rainforest. But while the film looks like a million bucks (or $14 million, according to the box office), the script by Patrick Massett and John Zinman feels like it’s checking boxes. There’s the "lowest point" montage, the "sudden success" montage, and the "betrayal" twist that most viewers will see coming if they’ve ever read a Wikipedia entry about the Bre-X mining scandal of the 90s, which inspired this story.

I found myself wondering why this movie didn't leave a larger footprint. It’s a mid-budget adult drama, the kind of "Dad Movie" that used to dominate the multiplex but was already being pushed out by the MCU and high-concept horror in the mid-2010s. The film is essentially a collection of great scenes looking for a better movie to live in.

The Mystery of the Missing Buzz

Why did Gold vanish so quickly? It was dumped into theaters during the January "dump month" of 2017 after a blink-and-you-missed-it awards qualifying run in December. It’s a "prestige" film that the studio clearly lost faith in. The irony is that in the current era of streaming, Gold would probably have been a massive hit on Netflix. It’s exactly the kind of movie you’d click on a Saturday night because you want to see a movie star go for broke.

Interestingly, the production was a bit of a revolving door before it got made. At various points, Christian Bale was attached to star and Michael Mann was set to direct. You can see the remnants of a Michael Mann film in the DNA of Gold—the focus on professional men obsessed with their craft—but Gaghan’s direction is more loose and shaggy.

There are some great bits of trivia for the eagle-eyed viewer. McConaughey reportedly lived on a diet of cheeseburgers, beer, and milkshakes for six months to maintain that "Dad Bod," and he refused to use a stunt double for the scene where he interacts with a live tiger. That’s the kind of old-school movie star madness I respect. Even if the movie around him is a bit uneven, his commitment to being the unwashed, desperate Kenny Wells is 100% genuine.

Ultimately, Gold is a fascinating failure. It’s a movie about the American Dream that’s as messy and bloated as its protagonist. It doesn't quite reach the heights of the classics it's trying to emulate, but it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than the polished, focus-grouped blockoversions of the same story. If you’re in the mood for a sweaty, boozy adventure anchored by a man who refuses to stop swinging for the fences, it’s worth the two-hour investment. Just don't expect to find any real 24-karat treasure at the bottom of the pan.

The ending attempts a final rug-pull that tries to reframe everything you’ve just seen, but by then, the film has already spent its best energy in the jungle. It’s a solid rental, a great plane movie, and a reminder that even when he’s wearing a bad wig and worse teeth, Matthew McConaughey is still one of the most watchable people on the planet. He’s the only reason this fool’s gold shines at all.