Few living actors have had as many distinct eras to their career as Matthew McConaughey. After becoming a breakout star and the ultimate stoner in Dazed and Confused, his handsome looks and charm soon saw him typecast as the go-to male lead in seemingly every romantic comedy between 2001 and 2009.
After Matthew McConaughey finally grew tired of going through the motions of starring in routine comedies, he set his sights on something more significant: winning an Academy Award. In 2011, he starred in a trio of films meant to course-correct his career: The Lincoln Lawyer, Bernie, and Killer Joe. Two years later, he’d win the Oscar for Best Actor after starring in Dallas Buyers Club. Since then, McConaughey has appeared in even more critically acclaimed films, some of which have offered the best performances of his career.
10Reign of Fire Saw McConaughey Soar Ahead of the Market
IMDb
6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes
42%
If Touchstone Pictures released Reign of Fire today, it would be a much bigger hit than in 2002. Not only are dragons finally having their moment in the spotlight thanks to television series like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, but both of the film’s stars, Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey, are far more famous today than they were back then. Regardless of timing, this film is still incredibly entertaining, if only because both Bale and McConaughey let loose as mismatched survivors in a war-torn apocalypse trying their best to defeat the dragons burning their world to ashes.
Matthew McConaughey performs his role as the American warrior Denton Van Zan with absolute relish, rallying the last remnants of a small band of Britons to defeat the fire-breathing monsters. Bald, built, and covered in tattoos, Denton Van Zan (and McConaughey) are unquestionably cartoonish, but so is the rest of the movie, which means everything feels like one piece. Had this film been made ten years later, there’d already be at least two sequels.
9Killer Joe is McConaughey at His Most Sadistic
IMDb
6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes
80%
In 2011, Matthew McConaughey teamed up with the legendary director William Friedkin to play a cop who moonlights as a contract killer in the NC-17-rated black comedy Killer Joe. For anyone who has never seen this movie, then fair warning: it sports a sadistic streak that few movies have tried to replicate before or after. Based on the play by Tracy Letts, Killer Joe follows the story of a woman’s estranged family hiring an assassin to murder her so that they can collect on the insurance policy.
As the titular contract killer, Joe Cooper, Matthew McConaughey offers a performance unlike any other he’s ever given. Decked out in a cowboy hat and dark sunglasses, he’s still self-assured as anything, but the brutality with which he treats the film’s other characters is an entirely different change of pace. Let’s just say this: after watching Killer Joe, you’ll never look at poultry or McConaughey the same way ever again.
8A Time to Kill Offers McConaughey Fans a Glimpse of What Was to Come
IMDb
7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes
67%
In one of the first leading roles of his career, in 1996, Matthew McConaughey starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock in Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of the John Grisham novel A Time to Kill. The story saw McConaughey take center stage as the lawyer Jack Brigance, hired to defend a man who had been arrested for killing the monsters who assaulted his young daughter.
McConaughey didn’t let this opportunity to headline a major studio film pass him by. The inherent likeability he possessed from the beginning of his career was entirely on display, and he combined that note with his typical modesty and understated intelligence to stand on his own two feet alongside other talented actors, all of whom were more prominent stars than he was at the time. A Time to Kill might not be the best legal thriller ever made, but it’s refreshing as a window into McConaughey’s early career.
7Frailty Brought McConaughey’s Career to Some Surprisingly Dark Places
IMDb
7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes
75%
Quite easily the most underappreciated movie on this list, Frailty is an incredibly effective psychological thriller directed by actor Bill Paxton. In it, Matthew McConaughey plays a witness who regals an FBI agent with a story of murder, betrayal, and religious fundamentalism while recollecting how he and his brother were tormented by their god-fearing father as children. As such, McConaughey only ever appears intermittently as the film’s narrator, but his touch is felt throughout the film, and this provided McConaughey’s fans with their first taste of the actor going full dark.
The best part about Frailty is how it keeps the audience guessing to the very end. Made in the wake of The Sixth Sense at a time when every horror film seemingly needed a surprise twist, it feels earned when the rug is finally pulled out from underneath the audience at the end of Frailty. A significant reason for that is Matthew McConaughey’s performance and his willingness to act (what was then) against type. Frailty might not receive the recognition it deserves, but fans of Supernatural have noticed a more than passing resemblance between the two.
6Dallas Buyers Club Brought McConaughey to the Promised Land
IMDb
7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes
92%
Dallas Buyers Club was made at a time in which McConaughey was purposefully saying no to any and every romantic comedy that came his way. Although the film was a notable change-of-pace for the actor, it also marked the beginning of his impressive run of critically-acclaimed films. With Dallas Buyers Club, the fan-favorite star finally earned the recognition he had been looking for by winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, which saw him play Ron Woodroof, a homophobic man diagnosed with AIDS who starts smuggling experimental treatment drugs into Texas.
By focusing on a flawed man who begrudgingly grows a conscience, Dallas Buyers Club served as catnip to the Academy (not to mention a series of other prestigious award ceremonies). Ironically, the film is at its best in those moments when it’s not trying to inspire a series of platitudes, but there’s no denying its overall potency. Moreover, having finally won his Oscar, following the release of this film, Matthew McConaughey started looking for films that offered something a little different: fun.
5The Wolf of Wall Street Sees McConaughey at His Most Exaggerated
IMDb
8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes
80%
Had Matthew McConaughey starred in The Wolf of Wall Street for longer than he does, it would have been much higher on this list. Unfortunately, his role amounts to little more than a glorified extended cameo, but sometimes McConaughey works best in small doses. In the film, he plays Mark Hanna, an experienced Wall Street trader willing to show the film’s central character, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), the ins and outs of being a financial trader.
4Mud Owes its Urgency to McConaughey’s Performance
IMDb
7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes
97%
McConaughey’s career. Ostensibly a coming-of-age film, the story revolves around two young teenage boys who encounter a fugitive named Mud living on a small island, and they agree to help the man escape his pursuers.
Once again, Matthew McConaughey is not the main star here, but he makes the absolute most of every opportunity given to him by acclaimed filmmaker Jeff Nichols, who must have known that casting McConaughey, even in a smaller role, would do wonders for this hidden gem and its financial ambitions. As the enigmatic Mud, McConaughey gives the film its edge, especially as the relationship between this mysterious drifter and the young men becomes increasingly ill-advised.
3Dazed and Confused Sees Matthew McConaughey at His Most Iconic
IMDb
7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes
93%
The one thing fans love about Dazed and Confused is the same thing that Matthew McConaughey’s David Wooderson admired about high school girls; as audiences grow older, Dazed and Confused stays as entertaining as ever. Even after decades of better performances (and, in some cases, better films), no one has ever forgotten McConaughey’s breakout role in Richard Linklater’s stoner comedy.
The reason is simple: Matthew McConaughey’s unforgettable line delivery made David Wooderson one of the most quoted film characters ever. Inspired by McConaughey’s adoration for his older chick-magnet brother, the actor approached the character like a modern-day Peter Pan, a boy with endless freedom who never grew up. McConaughey was so believable in the role that it practically typecast him for a decade.
2Interstellar Launched McConaughey’s Career to the Outer Reaches of the Galaxy
IMDb
8.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes
73%
When looking to line up his first starring role after securing his Oscar, Matthew McConaughey bet big on filmmaker Christopher Nolan. The acclaimed director teamed up with McConaughey to explore the stars alongside themes of time and familial bonds in Interstellar. In this science-fiction blockbuster, McConaughey stars as Cooper, a man who must make the impossible decision to leave his family behind to save humanity by finding a new hospitable planet to live on once Earth begins to fall apart.
Arguably the most popular film Matthew McConaughey has ever starred in, Interstellar is often listed as one of Christopher Nolan’s best films, and for good reason. Between McConaughey’s emotional performance, Nolan’s impressive camerawork, and Hans Zimmer’s legendary score, Interstellar is one of the most emotionally resonant films to emerge in the 21st Century.
1True Detective Is McConaughey at His Absolute Best
IMDb
8.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes
78%
After getting noticed by writer Nic Pizzolatto during the early stages of the “McConnaissance” in The Lincoln Lawyer, Matthew McConaughey found himself being offered the opportunity to try something completely different: headline his very own TV series alongside his good friend (and potential real-life brother) Woody Harrelson in the supernatural crime thriller True Detective. Other actors might have turned up their noses at the chance, but McConaughey could see the writing on the wall in terms of the Golden Age of television, and by agreeing to star as Rust Cohle, earned himself the best role of his career.
Poet, maniac, philosopher; there are many words that one could attribute to Rust Cohle’s character, and Matthew McConaughey brings them all to life with absolute conviction. Even in some of his darkest film roles, there’s still a spark of that “good-old-boy” nature in McConaughey’s eyes. That spark is all but extinguished in True Detective. By going against every instinct he typically has as an actor, True Detective offered McConaughey the opportunity to showcase his intensity like never before, and as such, it’s easily the most unforgettable performance of his career.
