Gold
TWC-Dimension | Release Date: January 27, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
21
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 26, 2017
Despite its uneven tone, the film is compelling and, perhaps more importantly, relevant even though the actual historical events occurred two decades ago. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJan 26, 2017
His latest film, Gold, directed by Stephen Gaghan, is his most extreme character work yet, with him playing a balding, paunchy, cigarette chomping gold prospector in the 1980s, and yet McConaughey is so good he makes it work. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 26, 2017
The acting is the purest thing in Gold. Read full review
75
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeDec 30, 2016
It’s a movie that both understands the basic desire to strike it rich and our deep understanding that one person’s wealth often comes at the expense of another person’s well-being. This isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s admirable for its ability to keep more than one thought in its head at a time. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredJoseph HernandezJan 31, 2017
Gold might be a flawed find, but it's worth seeing for Matthew McConaughey's performance alone. Read full review
70
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonJan 5, 2017
A bravura performance from Matthew McConaughey as a schlubby, roguish mineral prospector in desperate pursuit of the American Dream is the seam that gives Gold its value. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 30, 2016
Directed with an odd mix of human compassion and giddy abandon by Stephen Gaghan (“Syriana”), Gold is a lively portrayal of what’s often misidentified as the American Dream, but might be more accurately described as the American Fantasy — where men dream of wealth and success without having to put in the work. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 27, 2017
His performance in Gold, as Kenny Wells, isn’t quite up to his Oscar-winning work in "Dallas Buyers Club," but it’s nevertheless a rousing feat without which this movie would have far less to recommend it. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJan 26, 2017
Unfortunately, not even all of McConaughey’s substantial powers can overcome director Stephen Gaghan’s lacklustre vision or the screenwriters’ muddy narrative. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 26, 2017
As a movie, Gold is slim pickings. But McConaughey keeps you riveted. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 25, 2017
The movie's an easy, engaging watch, even if it's literally all over the map. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJan 25, 2017
Gold never settles on a coherent point of view. Is the film supposed to be a critique of capitalism or is it a Horatio Alger story about a self-made man preyed upon by wall street? Read full review
60
EmpireAndrew LowryFeb 6, 2017
Nothing you haven’t seen done better elsewhere, this one’s a missed opportunity. McConaughey’s hard work is impressive, but that’s the only message Gold is interested in conveying. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsAllen SalkinJan 25, 2017
Turning McConaughey into a wreck through makeup and lighting is not an adequate substitute for character development. But it underscores something that the film gets right — the fact that underneath many pretty surfaces is ugliness. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenDec 30, 2016
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. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerDec 23, 2016
Gold is fitfully entertaining, but for a movie that gives itself license to go bigger and weirder than real life, its imagination for excess runs out whenever it isn’t focused intently on its star. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 30, 2017
The film that results is at once panicky and abstruse, and we are left with little more than the delirious shine of McConaughey’s eyes and the preacherly rapture in his voice. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 26, 2017
Inspired by a true story, Gold is a major disappointment — a film of admirable ambition but woefully underwhelming execution. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJan 26, 2017
The character is so one-note, always tying everything back to his need to redeem himself and his dad and articulating so many of his concerns verbally rather than through his eyes or body, that after a while I wanted to put in earplugs to get a break from him. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithJan 26, 2017
What profiteth it a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his hairline? Matthew McConaughey considers the question in Gold, which is in essence a vanity project about a vanity project. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJan 26, 2017
Without its lead, whose full-throttle portrait is at least a burning flame, Gold wouldn’t work on any level. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 26, 2017
[McConaughey's] wild, abrasive and improbably delicate performance is what makes Gold watchable, even if the rest of the movie doesn’t supply sufficient reason to keep watching. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 26, 2017
The most ironic thing about Gold is this: For all its efforts, the movie seems to know it’s sitting on a gold mine of a backstory, but it just can’t figure out how to get the stuff out of the ground. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 26, 2017
McConaughey has become one of the more interesting actors around, someone whose next role is always worth checking out. But in Gold, the balance is off somehow — he’s acting up a storm, but a muddled story and hard-to-figure character ultimately betray him. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 26, 2017
Gold isn't a bad movie, just lifeless except for McConaughey. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 25, 2017
Often seen in his crummy underwear, and almost always with a cigarette and drink in hand, McConaughey brings a knowing fleshiness to the character. Yet the film’s uneven tone leaves us with lasting uncertainty about his character and the events we have witnessed. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 25, 2017
While McConaughey does his part, there’s just not enough treasure here in Gold to dig. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 30, 2016
Over time, Gold becomes nothing more than a masterclass in watching a great actor try to build a fortune out of dirt. Read full review
40
The TelegraphPatrick SmithFeb 2, 2017
McConaughey cranks his performance up to 11, as if to compensate for the lack of wattage found in Patrick Massett and John Zinman’s script. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJan 30, 2017
The script can’t find the right tone, torn between hard-hitting satire on the pitfalls of capitalism and goofy, upbeat we’re-in-the-money clichés. It’s a fine line that ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ walked with ease – but Gaghan, sadly, is no Scorsese. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 26, 2017
Congrats to Mr. McConaughey, usually a beanpole, for making himself unfashionably fat. The movie, though, is thin, if semi-clever, the synthetically exuberant tale of a rogue’s journey from rags to riches and back again. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 25, 2017
There are things about it that will catch the eye, that will pique your interest. Just don't make the mistake of expecting a big payoff. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanDec 30, 2016
There’s not much that glitters in Gold, a lackluster caper that proves that even the priciest ore can bore. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 27, 2017
The film lacks the spark of life or wit that might have made it work. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaJan 23, 2017
The film finds no treasure of gleaming originality in its energetically told but crushingly clichéd anti-capitalist parable. Read full review
33
ConsequenceBlake GobleJan 28, 2017
Gold is weakly written, predictable, and too placid to achieve any loftier ambitions. It’s just a soft-sold tale of a schemer’s paradise. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 23, 2017
The McConaissance finds no purchase here. Mining for something adventurous and coming up empty handed, ultimately the dramatically-challenged Gold digs for something fiery and collects zero treasure along the way. Read full review
33
The Film StageDaniel SchindelDec 30, 2016
Gold’s twist carries no weight because it comes from the movie being told from precisely the wrong point of view. Read full review
30
Village VoiceApril WolfeJan 25, 2017
In the end, the whole thing is a bit like one big golden shower pissing contest, with every male character vying for top of the trough. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 26, 2017
There’s really nothing else to say about Gold, beyond one general point: It is illustrative of what’s particularly fun about being a critic in January. For most of the year, bad movies have the same general ailments. But in January, they have exotic diseases. They have things wrong with them that you’ve never seen before. Read full review
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