Inspired by the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal and centred around the men involved, GOLD sees Academy Award Winner Matthew McConaughey swap out his recognisable good looks for a shaved head, bloated belly and false teeth in a role he claims to be his favourite of all. Written and directed by fellow Academy Award Winner Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) – making his return to filmmaking after an eleven-year hiatus – this dramatization turned comedy about a man discovering a massive gold deposit on the other side of the world mixes in great energy, just enough 1990’s nostalgia and a top notch cast including Edgar Ramírez and Bryce Dallas Howard to blend together an attractively entertaining ride journeying back and forth between the high rise buildings of Wall Street and the slums of the Indonesian jungle.
Kenny Wells (McConaughey) is a whisky loving, chain-smoking American patriot who wants nothing more than to ‘make it’. He is an unsuccessful businessman who is also the proprietor of his long-time family-run mining operation now living in the midst of an economic downturn. He’s lost his house and is living with long-time girlfriend Kay (Howard). Down on his luck but not ready to give up, Kenny thinks up a great idea, a special idea. Recalling geologist Michael Acosta (Ramírez), the man behind a tremendous copper haul in Indonesia and theorist about a potentially untapped goldmine just waiting to be discovered in the same country, it’s a quick stop to the pawn shop in exchange for a plane ticket and the two men are face to face. Armed with his charm and can do attitude, Kenny’s admirable passion and promise of being one of the ‘make-it-happen motherf-ers” convinces Acosta to side with Kenny. From an unlikely partnership comes an even unlikelier friendship that as success and riches come into the fold, lines are crossed and relationships are tested all in the name of one man and his dream to be the best.
Switching up the tone scene after scene McConaughey injects a certain crisp unpredictably further anchored by his intensity as the loveable yet dangerously naïve Kenny. His character is the cleverly written screenplay by Patrick Massett & John Zinman which much like its lead star transforms what normally would be boring mining and Wall Street lingo into interesting cut throat dialogue, packing on just as many laughs as McConaughey did pounds to go bigger and larger than life in all the right ways. Taking creative licence where possible but tantalising your cinematic taste buds to the point you almost forget a lot of what you’re witnessing actually happened, the empire Kenny and Acosta have built for themselves comes under challenge as the FBI, the big banks, beautiful women and even tigers all threaten to take them down.
Perfect cinematography bonding blends together the always magnificent New York city backdrop with the beautiful landscape of Thailand (doubling for Indonesia). It is the only thing to match the bond and chemistry between McConaughey and Ramírez as two bros searching for gold together while simultaneously wondering if one is playing the other.
While admittedly lacking the same flare as similar recent years’ hits like American Hustle or McConaughey’s own The Wolf of Wall Street, it’s his performance here, the dedication and immersion into the role of a flawed likeable character we can all relate to that makes the third McConaughey film in which his character searches for gold not only the best of the group but a damn good time. The comedy you didn’t know you needed, GOLD truly is gold.
Dream big. Prove ‘em all wrong.
