The Beach Bum

Matthew McConaughey stars as the titular bum in this meandering comedy. Going by the name of Moondog, he's a wealthy, hedonistic stoner and poet threatened with financial ruin if he doesn't finish his debut novel. Having been sent to rehab by the courts after breaking into his rich wife's mansion, he absconds to return to the wild life in Miami, intermittently typing out a few pages during breaks between drug-fuelled adventures with a motley assortment of larger-than-life ne'er-do-wells. Writer/director Harmony Korine would have us believe the central character is a lovable, free-spirited maverick, but mostly he comes across as a selfish, overgrown child in need of a kick up the pants, making it hard for viewers to warm to his wacky ways. The flimsy plot stitches together a series of half-hearted frat-boy set pieces, begging the question why actors as talented and in-demand as McConaughey or Jonah Hill (as Moondog's literary agent) would bother with such underwhelming fare.