I was talking with my cousin on Christmas Day about “Free State of Jones,” the civil war drama about Mississippi farmer/medic Newt Knight. His biggest gripe with the film was that it was too reliant on Matthew McConaughey-isms. Specifically, there were sequences in which the director gave McConaughey free reign to chew the scenery with his famous southern drawl. I agreed with him to an extent, citing sequences in which he was reserved to balance his performance out. There are no such sequences in “Gold” and I suspect that’ll be the downfall for my cousin.
To be fair, if there was ever a film for Matthew McConaughey to play to his persona, “Gold” is it. Kenny Wells is the perfect avatar for that stereotype: brash, confident, and charismatic to a fault. I can’t imagine many other actors slipping into the prospecting tycoon’s shoes with as much ease. Even so, every performance needs boundaries, lest it become a caricature. Unfortunately for Kenny, his biopic comes across as a cartoon more often than not.
This approach would work had the director lived up to the energy. Stephen Gaghan comes up short, supplanting the production with zestful qualities but moving the proceedings along at a snail’s pace. This is a two-hour film that feels like three. Kenny’s mining of gold and working the system to achieve the American Dream is stretched out for all its worth, resulting in sequences that begin to repeat themselves. There are numerous occasions in which Kenny nearly loses it all, only to rebound if ever so slightly. I found it hard for the drama to fully materialize as I questioned just how long until Kenny was back on top.
While the script, credited to Patrick Massett & John Zinman, is filled to the brim with clichés, it’s nevertheless an intriguing story. Kenny Wells, the son of a billionaire with the same name (Craig T. Nelson), is stuck in a rut following his father’s passing. Operating out of a bar, he traverses the business world in hopes of landing a deal to dig for gold. One night he has a dream – a premonition, if you will – in which geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez, smooth as ever) uncovers a gold mine in Indonesia. This falls in line with a theory once described to Kenny by Acosta, so he approaches him with a proposition: Kenny will secure the financing and Michael will find the gold. After a bit of hesitation, the two agree to partner up. In cinematic fashion, just as their funding is about to dry up, they strike gold. Had the film been any more clichéd and self-aware, “The Beverly Hillbillies” would’ve been playing in the background.
What follows is two hours of half-baked drama in which Kenny is courted by top corporate entities and how his ego gets the best of him and his colleagues. It’s not about being rich for Wells – he’s been there already – but about being famous. He’d rather go down in a blaze of glory before selling his name to magnate Brian Woolf (Corey Stoll). He’s also naïve enough to believe any lie cooked up to him, making him somewhat sympathetic. This goes a long way in humanizing the living cartoon character depicted on screen.
The Weinstein Company are the distributors of “Gold” and that’s fitting considering the striking similarities to another biopic of theirs currently in release, “The Founder.” That film depicts the meteoric rise of McDonald’s thanks to the shady business tactics of one Ray Croc. That too casts an actor to play to his persona – Michael Keaton – and dropping him in a formulaic legal drama. Both have direction that could be labeled as vanilla, but utilize that approach to their strengths. The vanilla approach matches that of the outlook of the entrepreneurs, who view the world bluntly. The landscapes are rich and accompanied by effervescent music so long as they spell out the American Dream. Both have scripts that are littered with on-the-nose dialogue, but that’s apropos considering both men wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The Founder” succeeded in reigning in Michael Keaton’s performance and keeping things moving at a brisk pace. It may have stumbled in the second half, with relationship woes coming up short, but retained my interest via determined direction. “Gold” follows the same pattern – losing steam in the second half, with Kenny’s relationship woes with Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard) coming up short – but it never fully had my attention to begin with. The premise was tantalizing, but the execution was anything but.
I may have criticized McConaughey’s performance, but at least it was engaging. That’s more than I can say for the direction. A shame considering the trials and tribulations of one Kenny Wells could make for a fascinating film. Here’s hoping it gets made someday.
Final Rating: C