This painfully lifeless and lame romantic comedy from "Hitch" director Andy Tennant leaves you wishing that someone would swoop down and fix it.(AP Photo/Warner Bros.)

There's a moment in "Fool's Gold" when Matthew McConaughey, as a flaky treasure hunter, finds himself stranded in the middle of the ocean, bobbing up and down as he clings to an ice chest, praying that someone will rescue him.

And you're thinking, "Yeah, I know exactly how he feels."

This painfully lifeless and lame romantic comedy from "Hitch" director Andy Tennant leaves you wishing that someone would swoop down and fix it. Because as it stands, there's nothing romantic or comic about it.

McConaughey and Kate Hudson look great individually, but they don't play well off each other.

The script from Tennant, John Claflin and Daniel Zelman has Hudson and McConaughey, as the newly divorced Tess and Finn, awkwardly reconciling when a clue emerges that could lead to the treasure they'd been obsessed with for years.

Tess, a steward on a huge yacht owned by billionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland), persuades him to fund the treasure hunt with Finn's help.

Finn must find the treasure before a competitor does, because he's in serious debt to a rapper-gangster, Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart).

"Fool's Gold" often feels as if Tennant & Co. were straining to create a live-action version of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, from the slapsticky physical humor to the constantly jaunty score.

At one point, Finn hops like a rabbit across the ocean floor while chained to an anchor. What's up with that, Doc?

- By Christy Lemire / Associated Press