McConaughey's first movie role was as David Wooderson, the charming rascal who hits on girls several years his junior. "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age" is the kind of line only someone like McConaughey can pull off. The laidback, carefree Wooderson is what most people think of when they hear the name McConaughey. I'm sure he brought his natural charisma to the role or maybe this role was so iconic it shaped his entire offscreen persona. There are times when Wooderson shows his quiet intensity and the cool guy mask drops off. So even back then, McConaughey was showing traces of the actor he would become 20 years later.
Even with a cast that includes a number of Hollywood heavyweights like Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd and Donald Sutherland, a young McConaughey manages to stand out in this popular legal drama. And I think that is because he's playing a lawyer, Jake Brigance. There's something about McConaughey's Southern drawl and winking charm which makes him perfect for playing a criminal attorney. He has the ability to stand for justice without sounding preachy. He's charisma and he has the intensity to back it up. This was the movie that brought him to the big leagues, his first adult starring role. And it's not surprising it made him a legit star.
The McConaughey rom-com era officially started in 2001 with The Wedding Planner. But the best of the bunch is clearly 10 Days, which pairs McConaughey with a totally game Kate Hudson in a zany battle of the sexes screwball comedy. This is still early enough in McConuaghey's rom-com era so his performance is genuine and spontaneous (unlike in later movies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past or Fool's Gold where it feels phoned-in). As Benjamin Barry, he uses his charm and good looks in fun ways and is able to keep up with Hudson's full-bodied, over-the-top comic performance. Modern rom-coms don't get a fair shake but this one shows that with the right writers, cast and director, a PG-13 mainstream studio comedy can still be have a few tricks up its sleeve.
In 2011, McConaughey bounced out of his rom-com era and into the good graces of filmgoers in the taut legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer. Around the same time, a little trash-noir indie was being shown around festivals only to have a limited release in June 2012. That was Killer Joe, one of McConaughey's most interesting and menacing performances. He completely discards his Southern charmer persona and becomes rather frightening and creepily vulnerable as the titular Killer Joe Cooper. As a cop who moonlights as an assassin-for-hire, he abandoned his normal star charisma and truly inhabits the role of Killer Joe. It's remarkable work, the culmination of almost two decades of perfecting his craft.
As Ron Woodroof, a homophobic, skirt-chasing Texas man who tests HIV+ after an unprotected sexual encounter, McConaughey tries to balance his movie star persona with his Killer Joe intensity. And it works. Beautifully, I should add. While most actors who play real people try to disappear into the character, McConaughey brings his whole career with him into the character. For that reason, this very Oscar-y performance feels genuine and heartfelt instead of manipulative and hollow. As much as you want to hate Woodroof for his hateful view of the world, the way he tries to correct his life is admirable as is his desire to help people in his same situation. Woodroof feels like a real person on the screen instead of just your typical soapbox-cipher character. McConaughey could very well win the Oscar for this performance (his main competition is Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave) and that would be all right, all right, all right.
Other remarkable films starring Matthew McConaughey:
1. The Lincoln Lawyer
2. Magic Mike
3. Mud
4. Two for the Money
5. Amistad
Hope you enjoyed part 8 of 5 Films. Stay tuned for Part 9, starring Oscar winner Natalie Portman.
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