It’s been close to thirty years since we first heard Matthew McConaughey utter the words “alright, alright, alright” in Dazed and Confused. The phrase not only remains in the actor’s tool belt but, in our collective pop culture. McConaughey could have become a legend for just that right then and there, but throughout his career he’s challenged himself with a ton of impressive movie performances. Matthew McConaughey has been a frequent leading man of rom-coms, a capable adventure star, a comedic talent and in-demand drama actor. He has 70 acting credits to show for it and a Best Actor Oscar.
1.Contact
McConaughey really began to gain prominence back in the ‘90s. It would later lead into a string of rom-coms still replayed on cable all the time. The movie that best showed off his ability to be the supportive man to a woman’s leading story was perhaps Robert Zemeckis’ Contact. The science-fiction classic follows Jodie Foster’s Dr. Ellie Arroway as she finds proof of alien intelligence and sets out to make “contact” with it.
Matthew McConaughey plays a writer and Christian philosopher named Palmer Joss, who challenges Dr. Arroway’s atheist beliefs and makes for an interesting polar opposite to Contact’s heroine. The pair’s conversations inject romantic tension as they have a powerful discussion between science and God. The actor adds weight to Jodie Foster’s performance and challenges the audience too.
2.Amistad
In the same year, Matthew McConaughey found another one of his early best performances in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad alongside heavyweight co-stars Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins. The four-time Oscar nominee told the true story of the 1839 legal battle involving the rights of a group of African tribesmen who were abducted to become slaves by a Spanish owned ship.
McConaughey plays the role of lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin, who is hired to defend the African men in court and proves they were sold to the Americas illegally. Today, Amistad is an underrated historical drama that is worth a look back on. The now more famous Djimon Hounsou and Chiwetel Ejiofor have roles and McConaughey rocks an awesome colonial wig!
3.The Lincoln Lawyer
Speaking of Matthew McConaughey playing a lawyer, he does it a few more times in his career, in 1996, in A Time To Kill and more recently in The Lincoln Lawyer. Between 2011 and 2014, when the actor moved away from rom-coms are started picking up some serious work, it was coined as the “McConaissance”. As you’ll see, a majority of this list takes place during this era and The Lincoln Lawyer was the first movie that marked its beginning.
Brad Furman’s 2011 neo-noir legal thriller centers on Mickey Haller. He’s a fictional lawyer who literally operates his business out of his Lincoln Town Car. The movie follows Haller as he defends the son of a wealthy LA businessman’s assault case. However, he connects the dots to a previous case. It twists into an intense legal ride and McConaughey’s performance is gripping.
4.The Wolf Of Wall Street
Matthew McConaughey has a knack for stealing the spotlight in supporting roles too, and his role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is a prime example. In the critically-decorated crime drama, the 50-year-old actor plays senior broker Mark Hanna, who introduces Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort to the sex and drug-filled life of excess the movie taps into.
The actor plays a real-life person who really did tell Belfort about his ideals focused on cocaine, masturbation and hookers. McConaughey’s role is incredibly memorable in a movie full of memorable performances. Especially, that memeworthy chest thump that is nothing short of iconic.
