Matthew McConaughey and Edgar Ramirez star in a scene from the movie "Gold." The Catholic News Service classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (CNS/Weinstein)

By Catholic News Service

A strong performance from Matthew McConaughey fails to dispel the sour taste of this loosely fact-based story, set in the 1980s, about the zigzagging fortunes of the scrappy Nevada prospector he plays. Joining forces with a more sophisticated geologist (Edgar Ramirez), the miner braves the jungles of Indonesia to claim the largest gold strike of the decade. But all, of course, is not as it appears.

A seedy atmosphere and a low moral tone in the boardroom are matched by an ongoing but unhallowed bedroom relationship between the protagonist and his live-in girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard). Additionally, screenwriters Patrick Massett and John Zinman embed their script with a mother lode of vulgarity, making director Stephen Gaghan’s salute to entrepreneurial grit unfit for most.

Cohabitation, nongraphic nonmarital sexual activity, rear and partial nudity, frequent use of profanity, pervasive rough and crude language, a couple of obscene gestures. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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