If you’re an early 2000s kid, you grew up in the era of rom-coms. Amid movies such as 13 Going on 30, Definitely, Maybe, and The Proposal, you’ve certainly witnessed the epicness that is Mathew McConaughey. This heartthrob was everywhere when it came to rom-coms, and we all loved him to sweep the girls off their feet. Later, however, the actor expanded his acting roles to serious and broken characters in drama movies. Expanding his talent worked in his favor, winning an Oscar Award for Best Actor in 2014. Along with being an actor, McConaughey has been a professor at the University of Texas in Austin since 2019, teaching Script to Screen film production classes. With much accomplishment under his belt, we’ll look at the movies and TV shows you should watch and appreciate his excellent acting career.
Dallas Buyers Club
This movie won Matthew McConaughey his Oscar for Best Actor, and you can tell why. The man is committed to the role of Ron Woodroof, a real-life man who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1980s Dallas. With no help from the healthcare system, Woodroof turns to drastic measures. Dallas Buyers Club is based on the real scheme Woodroof conducted to smuggle unapproved medication to combat AIDS into Texas for him and others in need. With his sickly body, McConaughey goes beyond to physically portray Woodroof, perfectly capturing a man willing to do anything to live while gaining empathy for those with the disease.
The Wedding Planner
Mary Fiore is a wedding planner who hopes to make it big as a partner for her company in San Francisco. She’s ambitious and passionate in her job, bringing romance and memories on a couple’s special day. Planning the wedding for heiress Fran Donnelly shouldn’t have been any different, except that Mary fell in love with Donnelly’s fiancée, Steve “Eddie” Edison. In this role, McConaughey sweeps Mary off her feet after a meet-cute which involves saving her life. With love blossoming right before Eddie gets married, he and Mary attempt to distance themselves from their mutual interest in each other. But the closer the wedding day gets, the more difficult it is for either person to move on from their feelings.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Andie Anderson is an advice columnist for a women’s magazine. Tired of the same boring topics, Andie is struck with an idea after her friend’s failed relationship. As an experiment on losing a guy in ten days, she starts dating Benjamin Barry. As an advertising executive looking for inspiration in a diamond company, Benjamin makes a bet with his boss that he can get any girl to fall in love with him in 10 days. Both with ulterior motives, shenanigans ensue, more on Andie’s repulsive play that’s cringy but funny. Most of the time, Benjamin has a confused face at every mood swing Andie goes through.
Interstellar
With the meme of McConaughey crying in front of a screen, you’d be confused about what the movie’s about if you’ve never watched it. With the earth’s inability to grow crops and dust bowls prolonging the end of humanity, the only choice is to leave Earth. With NASA in charge, they bring together a team that’ll travel through space and explore three planets with the potential to be humanity’s future home. With director Christopher Nolan, who also did Oppenheimer, this science fiction is anything but a good time. With time dilation stripping Joseph Cooper and his team’s time from Earth’s time, Cooper is forced to see his daughter grow up without him while he stays the same age. You’ll cry from the bittersweet end as humanity tries to save itself from extinction and witness a bright future. The major question of the movie is whether or not it’s worth being out of place and time.
True Detective
The first season of this ongoing anthology series is a grounded, messy take on flawed detectives trying to solve a brutal murder case. Set in Louisianna, detectives Rustin Cohle and Marty Hart, an unlikely duo, spend 17 years solving the case, their issues entangling them as they follow multiple dead ends and scarce clues. The tone is bleak and dull, with the back-and-forth between Rustin in 1999 and 2012 being a big contrast in character. McConaughey plays Rustin Cohle in a way viewers sympathize with his struggles and addictions. He also plays off well with Woody Harrison’s Marty Hart, both compelling to watch with a good mystery.
We Are Marshall
In this sports drama film, We Are Marshall deals with the aftermath of a devastating plane crash that takes the lives of most of Marshall University’s Thundering Herd football team. Based on a real live event in a 1970 plane crash, football head coach Jack Lengyel and assistant coach William “Red” Dawson attempt to rebuild the football team after the university’s president almost decides to suspend the football program. With the remaining football members who weren’t on the plane, it’s a struggle to get a full new team and train them for the football season. With grief over the deceased team members and coaches, it’s equally hard to even play. But as in many sports movies, it’s not about the game but how to push forward from a tragic event.
Sing
Somehow, I keep forgetting that McConaughey is the koala Buster Moon when his voice sounds exactly like his. Buster Moon is the owner of a failing theater. To save his beloved building, Buster organizes a talent show, hoping the publicity will make the once elegant theater shine again. In the anthropomorphic animal city called Calatonia, the focus lies on the contestants hoping to make big with the prize money. Pig Rosita, porcupine Ash, gorilla Johnny, mouse Mike, pig Gunter, and elephant Meena are the only ones left competing and are unexpectedly friendly with each other, becoming close friends. Sing is a cute story with no big, life-ending stakes the whole family can enjoy. For another movie showcasing McConaughey’s voice acting skills, check out Laika Studios’ Kubo and the Two Strings.
As you wonder what movie to watch with Matthew McConaughey, I leave this last fact about the actor. Did you know he’s in Deadpool and Wolverine as a Deadpool variant? If you pay attention, you’ll catch McConaughey’s signature southern accent. Was there a Matthew McConaughey movie you wanted to be recognized on this list, let us know on our socials, Instagram, X, and Facebook!
Be on the lookout for Bookstr’s Exciting Adaptations to Look Forward to This October!
For more romance genres, check out Love is in the Air: Contemporary Romance on Bookshop.org!
