When I first saw the trailer for Fountain of Youth, I had conflicting responses. On the one hand, I was excited to see anything resembling a history-focused adventure film. I’ve seen this called a “heist” movie, but the proper term is treasure hunt – a globetrotting, action-inflected, star-driven treasure hunt. I love watching entertaining characters chase myths and legends to unlock the secrets buried by an ancient civilization (or a centuries-old conspiracy, or a higher power, or aliens), and Hollywood so rarely lets me!

On the other hand, I wondered why this seemingly four-quadrant movie with blockbuster scale, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Natalie Portman and John Krasinski, was going straight to streaming. I’d either end the movie asking the same question, this time shaking my fist at the industry, or… I wouldn’t. Neither option seemed comforting.

Now, having seen it, my reaction remains just as mixed. In some ways, Fountain of Youth is the adventure story I was looking for, and I enjoyed every minute when that was the case. But this film is filled with flaws, momentary and fundamental alike. I am equal parts amused by it and frustrated with it, and as I write this, I don’t yet know which feeling will win out.

Fountain Of Youth Provides Some Solid Adventure Movie Thrills

Without Taking Its Eye Off Character

At its core, Fountain of Youth is about two siblings grappling with the long shadow of their father’s legacy. He was an Indiana Jones-type adventurer-scholar (winkingly named Harrison) who earned the world’s respect, if not the adulation he may have deserved, and his exploits were often family affairs. After he died, his son Luke (Krasinski) chose to chase him, though his way of doing so might be considered more thievery than exploration. His daughter Charlotte (Portman) stopped the ride and got off; she got married, had a kid, and curates a museum in London.

When the movie starts, they’ve pushed those lives to the brink. Luke is being pursued by Interpol for several art thefts, while Charlotte’s amicable divorce turned not-so-amicable, threatening custody of her son. They’re brought back together when Luke involves his unwilling sister in his latest quest – the search for the mythical fountain of youth, on behalf of terminally ill billionaire Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson) – but their journey is about more than their destination. As they get closer to their goal, so, too, do they grow closer to each other.

This is one of Fountain of Youth‘s better instincts. While Carver’s mission is enough motivation to move the plot forward, the film keeps returning to why this quest is so important to Luke, cluing us into his nagging subconscious through dreams. The movie often wobbles, but this spine keeps it from falling over. It’s only thanks to it that the big finale has the emotional resonance that it does.

For the most part, though, it’s not the adventure set pieces that need the help. Structurally, screenwriter James Vanderbilt has laid an interesting path for the central characters, though he clearly helped himself to a buffet of predecessors – a bit of Indiana Jones, some National Treasure, and a surprising helping of The Da Vinci Code. They’re also being pursued separately by Arian Moayed’s Inspector Jamal Abbas and Eiza González’s mysterious representative of the fountain’s legendary protectors, who provide welcome disruptions to any well-laid plans.

Fountain Of Youth’s Flaws Are Everywhere

And They Kept Taking Me Out Of The Movie

But as much as I wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride, Fountain of Youth‘s myriad of problems always managed to pull me out of it. The most frequent culprit is the dialogue, which too often hits the ear awkwardly, though who exactly to blame is hard to say. The script was clearly written with a thesaurus too close at hand, but the rhythm of the delivery is also jarringly off, and what could’ve been intended as playful intellectual posturing is just unnatural. Either the director, most of the cast, or both didn’t take well to the way this was written.

The inconsistencies of style on top of this would point to Ritchie. He’s always been a filmmaker who favors visual flourishes, and at their best, they convey a sense of genuine cool. But many of his choices here lack a real purpose. His use of slow-motion in Sherlock Holmes, for example, was grounded in Sherlock’s genius, slowing the world down to immerse us in the speed of his thinking. When he tries the same trick with Luke once, it feels more like a put-on than a real idea. Fountain of Youth is littered with such moments.

It doesn’t help that Krasinski is woefully miscast. I can see the thinking – combine his comedic chops with his action persona, and maybe you get a charming adventurer. But he lacks the charisma this movie desperately needs. When there’s not some big, exciting thing happening, this kind of film lives off the chemistry between the various characters, and the crucial pairings of Krasinski and Portman (also not quite at home in this material) and Krasinski and Gonzalez (who’s pretty great) just don’t deliver enough of it.

Do Ritchie & Co. Really Understand The Appeal Of This Genre?

Sometimes, It’s Hard To Tell

Most critically (and probably why I remain so firmly on the fence), I spent Fountain of Youth going back and forth on whether the filmmakers actually understand what people like about these movies. Ritchie is a prolific action director, and he leans action here, which is fine. When it’s not being distractingly stylized, the action is good. But treasure hunt movies have a nerdy side that sometimes feels undervalued by this film.

I personally love when characters expound on a bit of history or myth that ends up being essential, but more importantly, they love it. When Indiana Jones talks about the Ark of the Covenant, or when Nicolas Cage’s Ben talks about the Founding Fathers, they light up. When these new characters problem-solve, they have the air of showing off, as if displays of knowledge are their way of being cool. But there’s something more endearing about their excitement being profoundly uncool, especially when the character usually isn’t.

Fountain of Youth isn’t missing this entirely, and the vibe I was looking for really comes to the fore in the final stretch. So, I remain trapped in between a firm stance for or against. The one thing I know for sure, though, is that watching it made me want another one – just not from these people.