10 Essential Matthew McConaughey Performances

Cast your mind back to the mid 2000s. Matthew McConaughey’s star had risen. He was a Hollywood heavyweight. His latest movie? Failure to Launch. The poster depicted the actor, a grin on his face, being held up by a smiling Sarah Jessica Parker. However, despite the financial success of the film, McConaughey wasn’t content.

You see, Failure to Launch had secured him the status of Hollywood heartthrob following similarly financially successful films such as How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, and The Wedding Planner. It was becoming something a running joke to see the actor alongside his female co-star on posters that left you under no illusions who was going to “get the girl”.

Indeed, three years later, he would be at it again, standing alongside Jennifer Garner for poster for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It would be his last mainstream romantic-comedy. Instead, the actor took a couple of years away from the big screen, returning to make films that truly tested his talents.

He’d previously showcased what a diverse actor he could be in quirky comedy EdTV, existential sci-fi Contact, horror Frailty, and still one of his best movies, A Time to Kill, but 2011 so a sea change in the actor’s career. He would go on to deliver a string of fine dramatic performances in films that would become some of the 2010s most memorable American releases.

Matthew McConaughey’s best movies

Matthew McConaughey has been acting in films since 1993. He’s one of the most versatile actors but someone once better known for his looks than his acting. That is no longer the case as he boasts an eclectic body of work ranging from romantic comedies to courtroom dramas and globetrotting adventures. Here’s his ten best performances.

Firstly, an honourable mention…

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Dir. Scorsese (2013)

The shortest amount of screen time among the films listed here but when you can own every minute you’re in and upstage an actor like Leonardo DiCaprio (who gives one of the all time best performances in The Wolf of Wall Street) then you have done something right.

McConaughey filmed this cameo concurrently while doing Dallas Buyer’s Club so it explains his odd look. His performance is terrific but one scene needs to be mentioned and it’s the scene in the restaurant where McConaughey does the chest beating.

This was improvised by him as it’s a ritual he does before the start of filming. DiCaprio had no idea what was going on. There’s a brief shot of DiCaprio looking away and that is really him looking at director Martin Scorsese for guidance. DiCaprio liked it so much that he urged Scorsese to keep it in the film to set the tone for the rest of movie. McConaughey has that ability to take small scenes and make the something special.

10. The Paperboy

Dir. Daniels (2012)

The Paperboy enjoys a star-studded cast and was directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels, but it’s an offbeat film far removed from a glitzy Hollywood production and, partly as a result, couldn’t find an American theatrical distributor.

In addition to Matthew McConaughey, you have Nicole Kidman playing a woman of questionable morality and John Cusack playing a mean and nasty individual, which is unlike any character he has played before.

And then you have McConaughey doing a fantastic job as an ambitious journalist in pursuit of the truth, as well as a closet homosexual, which is also against “type” he’d established in the 2000s as a heterosexual romantic lead. The Paperboy is not for everyone but McConaughey is a big reason to see this.

9. Dazed And Confused

Dir. Linklater (1993)

This is McConaughey’s debut film and the first words he ever recorded for the big screen were his trademark: “All right, all right, all right”. The infectious line has been used and imitated over the years and McConaughey himself even used it during his Oscar acceptance speech.

This is the film that launched his career and even though he had a small role in Dazed and Confused, he had two of the most memorable lines perhaps in film history. The “all right” line was one and the other was “That’s what I love about high school girls. I keep getting older and they stay the same age.” Even in his debut you could see McConaughey had charm and screen presence.

8. The Gentleman

Dir. Ritchie (2019)

Matthew McConaughey plays Michael ‘Mickey’ Pearson in this stylish crime-comedy from Snatch writer-director Guy Ritchie. Mickey is an American marijuana kingpin who has been merrily making his money in England but now wants to sell the business. This sets off an often hilarious chain of events as an ensemble of characters jockey for position and the keys to the riches.

7. Frailty

Dir. Paxton (2001)

Matthew McConaughey plays Fenton Meeks, a man who turns up at FBI agent Wesley Doyle’s office, claiming to have information about a serial killer known as the God’s Hand. When Fenton tells Doyle (Powers Boothe) that he knows exactly who did it, and that that person is in fact his younger brother, the FBI agent doesn’t believe him. Doyle laughs, “In a case like this, no one just walks through the door and tells you who the killer is, it just doesn’t happen that way.”

So Fenton begins to tell the story of exactly why his brother could commit such crimes. His tale takes us back to 1979 where him and his sibling’s happy existence with their father (Bill Paxton) in a quiet Texan town is abruptly changed forever. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, they are awoken by their father who explains to them he has had a vision from God, instructing him that demons walk among us, and that he must destroy them

McConaughey has previously worked with director and star Bill Paxton on the submarine thriller U-571 and rightly he casts in a role that’s perfect for him. You don’t know if he is a good man in this story or if he is just the incarnation of evil. Credit Paxton’s strong direction for this but McConaughey’s understanding of the character is what makes us identify with him.

6. Mud

Dir. Nichols (2012)

McConaughey plays the mysteriously named Mud. He’s a fugitive who has been hiding from the authorities and bounty hunters after committing a crime of passion – for the love of his life. It’s a role that should have earned him an Oscar nomination. In it, Mud teaches two young boys about adventure and life and tries to help them live it. It’s a beautiful coming-of-age story distinguished by McConaughey’s stark interpretation of the title character.

5. Interstellar

Dir. Nolan (2014)

In Interstellar, McConaughey has the responsibility of telling the story and making us feel the human side of this incredible journey. He makes us feel many emotions, as a father, a scientist, a son and a human being. The majestic McConaughey’s performance is so strong that the scenes in which he is absent seem flat by contrast, and it’s easy to believe in the early scenes of fatherhood.

From time to time, filmmakers like to push the boundaries of cinema, attempting to give us enormous and awe-inspiring scope, and that is definitely the case with Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic. Drawing inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Contact (which of course McConaughey also starred in) Nolan has crafted an ambitious, thought-provoking, and breathtaking film that isn’t afraid of tackling big themes and ideas.

4. The Lincoln Lawyer

Dir. Furman (2011)

Before The Lincoln Lawyer, McConaughey was frequently in rom-coms and other films that seemed to do fairly well at the box office but did little to show his dramatic acting chops. That all changed with The Lincoln Lawyer where he plays Mick Haller. He’s a lawyer that operates mostly out of the back seat of his Lincoln and he will take on any case as long as you have the money.

He doesn’t operate outside of the law, nor does he break it. But he will defend anyone. McConaughey chews up the scenery in this film. His southern charm and drawl were perfect for the character and because of The Lincoln Lawyer he started getting offered more meaty roles.

3. Dallas Buyer’s Club

Dir. Vallée (2013)

The film that finally won McConaughey the Oscar for best actor is the one that saw him undertake his greatest physical transformation. Ge lost nearly 20kgs in order to play AIDS patient Ron Woodruff in the Oscar-winning Dallas Buyers Club. His diet enabled him to lose 1.5kgs a week until he reached the right weight for the role.

Undoubtedly, he gives the performance of a lifetime. There had been a lot of reports about the weight-loss McConaughey went through, but in the end, that is merely just the dressing around the character, and you get past that very quickly. What McConaughey does is completely embody this character, which at the beginning is this absolute, single-minded, selfish and dangerous man, and gets you to come on this journey with him during the course of the drama.

2. A Time To Kill

Dir. Schumacher (1996)

McConaughey plays Jake Brigance, a white lawyer hired by a black man (Samuel L. Jackson) to defend him after he is charged with murder when he kills two men for raping and attempting to kill his 10-year-old daughter.

McConaughey shines brighter than the impressive ensemble as the young and inexperienced lawyer who is in way over his head and is in jeopardy of losing the case until he gives one of the best courtroom monologues of all time.

1. Killer Joe

Dir. Friedkin (2012)

Killer Joe features a tour de force performance from Matthew McConaughey under the direction of William Friedkin. This uncompromising black comedy channels the actor’s darker side as the titular title character, a cop who mixes a shady interpretation of the law with time spent moonlighting as a hit man. Becoming enamoured by the nubile Dottie Smith (Juno Temple), Joe agrees to kill the hated mother of a desperate drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) in exchange for Dottie, who happens to be the drug dealer’s sister.

Your turn? Name your favourite Matthew McConaughey performances…

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