By the time this review is over, I will have spent more time thinking about Fool's Gold than the writers of its script. This...thing...is one of the sloppiest pictures released by a major studio in recent memory. What can you say about a "romance" with no romance, a "comedy" with no laughs, an "adventure" with no excitement? Though I certainly wasn't rubbing my hands together in anticipation walking in to the theater, I thought this would at least succeed at being an enjoyable time waster. "Attractive people wearing few clothes in exotic locales -- I can handle watching that for a few hours," I thought to myself. But I was wrong. So very wrong. The whole affair is about as compelling as a two-hour fart.

I don't ask a great deal from romantic comedies. I don't need every one to be Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally or Love, Actually. I don't even need them to be particularly good -- I kinda enjoyed The Holiday, for God's sake! Give me a few laughs, appealing leads, a warm squishy feeling, and you've done your job. Plainly, the makers of Fool's Gold did not do their job. Listen, I know Valentine's Day is coming up, so heed this warning -- if you see this crashing bore of a movie on a first date, your relationship is doomed, cursed even. Do not speak on the way home, avoid eye contact, just go your separate ways and don't speak of the evening again.

Hey, do you remember that film 20 Dates? This guy Myles Berkowitz made the film in an attempt to save (or jump start) his film career, as well as his love life. Basically, it's shot as a documentary though parts of it were staged, yet it isn't a full-blown mockumentary. If you've seen it, that description should make sense. Anyway, he sets up 20 dates for himself and decides to film said dates in the hopes that one of these women would turn out to be his future wife. However, half way through he actually does fall in love with a girl but commits himself to stay the course and finish the dates ... even if his new girlfriend isn't keen on the idea.

It was a cute gimmick and probably inspired films like My Date with Drew, but never really caught on. Needless to say, there's a reason why you haven't heard from the guy since. Well now, Universal Pictures has snatched up Jennifer Cox's memoir Around the World in 80 Dates, tapping Andy Tennant to direct. Reese Witherspoon's Type A Films will produce along with Mike De Luca Prods., although Witherspoon herself is not (yet) attached to star. Tennant and Witherspoon last worked together on Sweet Home Alabama. In the book, Cox wanted to find her soulmate and was tired of the local internet-dating scene. And so she sent her profile all over the world and subsequently set up 80 dates with men from 16 countries.

Yeah, so the gal traveled the world to go on a bunch of dates. Heck, the real story here should be where she found the money and the time to take on this sort of monumental task. "Oh, I'm in sort of a long distance relationship -- my boyfriend is from Tunisia. He was date number 64." Man, what some people will do for love ...

Damn you Production Weekly! Yesterday we spoke about a rumor that had Tom Cruise starring in Fool's Gold, the latest romantic comedy from director Andy Tennant (Sweet Home Alabama). Well, squash that. Variety reports Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson have, instead, joined forces as husband and wife in the pic.

The pair, last seen together in the giant commercial hit How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, will play married treasure hunters who find their relationship in ruins and their funds depleted after a string of unsuccessful hunts. That is, until they stumble upon the one missing piece that could lead to a fortune. Personally, I'm much happier about this casting decision, though it's hard for me to picture Hudson as a treasure hunter -- she's just too cute and delicate. However, these two have obvious chemistry on screen, and if Fool's Gold takes off the way How to Lose a Guy did, well, we're looking at a monster hit.

I was about seven-years-old when I had my first taste of what it was like to watch a movie being filmed. At the time, my family and I lived in New York City and, one afternoon, we looked out our window to see a gigantic sailboat riding up Riverside Drive. For those of you who have never been to NYC, giant sailboats are the last thing one expects to see outside their window. My mom (who was and still is a sucker for celebrity sightings) and I rushed downstairs to see what all the fuss was about, only to learn that what we were witnessing was the final scene of Romancing the Stone.

What does this have to do with Tom Cruise? Well, thankfully he's not starring in a remake of Romancing the Stone. He is, however, rumored to be starring in Fool's Gold, a flick that instantly reminded me of that day with the sailboat. Pic, to be directed by Andy Tennant (Hitch), revolves around a married couple whose discovery of a lucrative treasure lands them in the spotlight and on the cover of magazines everywhere. However, when they attempt another treasure hunt a few years later, things don't go as well. As their marriage begins to fall apart and bills pile up, the two hatch a plan to "bilk a wealthy investor with the promise of a big score." Hmm, I wonder who would play Cruise's wife? Something tells me Kathleen Turner is a bit past her prime.