“Lone Star” (1996)
For a long time, this absolutely terrific movie from director John Sayles, an elegiac borderland drama about fathers and sons, legacy and bigotry, it felt like a outlier in McConaughey’s back catalogue. He’s not the lead (that honor falls to his “A Time To Kill” co-star, the great Chris Cooper in maybe his best performance), doesn’t even have that much screen time and plays a character who’s dead before the film even properly begins. But McConaughey’s Sheriff Buddy Deeds, the charming, corrupt but immensely popular father of Chris Cooper’s diminished-by-comparison son, is a great part, even if it’s little more than a cameo. Appearing in flashback, rocking back on his chair, drawling out his lines with his stetson pushed back and a beer in his hand, we see the manner in which Buddy Deeds built his reputation, which expanded to near-mythic status in that small dusty Texan town, and it needs someone of McConaughey’s effortless magnetism to really convince. “A Time To Kill” may have been the film that broke McConaughey wide, but it was “Lone Star” that first made me notice him, (and then spend a lot of the next 15 years wondering where that guy had gone). And perhaps it’s not even so much his individual performance as the strength of the whole film that did it (a heartfelt RIP to Elisabeth Pena who is so wonderful here and died recently at the early age of 54), but for a long time “Lone Star” was a beacon of what McConaughey could do even in a small role in an independent film. And it remains to this day one of the lesser seen films in his back catalogue, You should see it if you haven’t, especially if you ever sat through “Surfer Dude” or “Failure to Launch.”
“Contact” (1997)
Honestly, there was a good case to be made for “Frailty” to replace this entry in our top five, especially as it feels like a bit of a cheat to have three-fifths of this list come from a two-year period. But with “Interstellar” in cinemas right now, it felt like we couldn’t ignore the other philosophically minded sci-fi featuring fathers and daughters and mysterious messages from otherwordly beings beyond our ken in McConaughey’s filmography. Somewhat derided at the time, I always had a soft spot for “Contact,” and it’s funny how much widespread criticism of “Interstellar” can also be lodged here: it’s not nearly the visual spectacle that Nolan’s film is, but Robert Zemeckis’ attempt at the stars also ends up with the somewhat pat resolution that Love is the Most Important Thing. In many ways, in fact, McConaughey’s role, though sadly underwritten, is the most interesting in the film (though Jodie Foster brings a lovely fragility to her spiky, uncompromising scientist role) —he’s part philosopher, part priest, part love interest and somehow makes that weird mix work, even in the few scenes he’s afforded. Based on the novel by Carl Sagan, the film would always have a more inward-looking, “we are all made of stars” vibe which is undoubtedly too touchy-feely for some. But in one other way it mirrors Nolan’s film —in its unequivocal endorsement of the value of space exploration, something McConaughey’s characters in both films stand behind. And in addition to all that, you have to admire any mainstream blockbuster that attempts to overtly tackle such heady issues: in “Contact,” McConaughey’s character is little less than the personification of the science vs God debate, and if it doesn’t solve that age-old dilemma to everyone’s satisfaction, then are we perhaps (like arguably with “Interstellar”) setting our expectations a little high for the ability of a summer tentpole to change our fundamental understanding of the nature of humanity?
“Tropic Thunder” (2008)
Sandwiched in between the twin nadirs of McConaughey’s infuriatingly smug, sun-bronzed, beach bum movie career (“Surfer Dude” and “Fool’s Gold”) came this little scrap of genius, a film so unexpectedly hilarious that it marks a high watermark for almost everyone involved, which is saying something with such a celebrity cameo-strewn movie. And McConaughey’s no exception. In fact, with the possible exception of Tom Cruise turning up as an unrecognisably revolting studio honcho, McConaughey might be the one whose profile was most in need of this timely boost, and who most direly needed to re-convince the world that he could be funny. As Ben Stiller’s character’s agent, Rick Peck, McConaughey also gets to bring a light gloss of satire to a role that we presume he’s basing on quite some prior experience —his Peck is a slick, amoral smooth talker (“we gotta shave your head and get you back on the monkey bars!”), doggedly dedicated to getting his client a TiVo when in fact the world is disintegrating around him and a TiVo is pretty much the last thing he needs (unless it’s to deflect a rocket, of course). With as much verve as “Tropic Thunder” has going on —Robert Downey Jr in blackface, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson are the actors stranded in the jungle and mistaken for real soldiers by a ruthless local heroin gang, for the one person in the world who hasn’t seen this film— it would be easy to make the “meanwhile back in Hollywood” bits feel like an irritating diversion. But McConaughey chews into he role with brio, a head of curls and a pastel Lacoste polo shirt, even undergoing something of a heroic last minute reversal. As much as McConaughey’s return to leading man status in serious characterful roles is very welcome, his turn here and in the likes of “The Wolf of Wall Street” also serve to remind us what a game part of an ensemble he can be.
Honorable mentions:
Closest to making this top five was “Frailty,” the underrated twisty Bill Paxton-helmed serial killer thriller in which McConaughey is pretty great as the, how shall we put it, conflicted central character. But he has on occasion also shown up and been better than the material that surrounds him: there’s no reason that “Reign of Fire” which is about dragons, for heavens sake, should be as dull as it is, but McConaughey’s shaven-headed, bearded, cigar chomping Van Zan is pretty fun, and he’s also good in Spielberg‘s sloggiest effort “Amistad.” He’s solid in the little-seen ensemble indie “Thirteen Conversations about One Thing” and turned in a decent entry into the inspirational teach/coach subgenre with “We are Marshall” as well.
Dishonorable mention:
“Surfer Dude” with Woody Harrelson is terrible but pretty much no one saw it, while perennial meme “Tiptoes” almost transcends terrible by being such a batshit entry on anyone’s CV. So we’re going to give this dishonor to the Kate Hudson-starrer “Fool’s Gold” which is just the fucking worst.
Did we miss out your favorite pre-renaissance McConaughey gig? Let us know in the comments.