Several years ago, I used to pile on the jokes about Matthew McConaughey.
Whether it was the Texan accent, his ubiquitous voice on commercials for energy companies (fellow Texans know what I mean), or his penchant for run-of-the-mill romantic comedies, it has always been easy to make fun of his often shirtless self.
Lately though, the humor has been harder to conjure. Ever since I saw his performance a year or two ago in William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, my thoughts on McConaughey began to change. It wasn’t exactly movie of the year in my mind, but Killer Joe displayed his range and ability to take on more intense roles, which in this instance meant a slick but deeply sinister cop moonlighting as a hit man with a moral code of little to none. It happens.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen the dark comedy Bernie or the mystery-drama Mud yet, but those are on my never-ending Netflix queue. The recently released Dallas Buyer’s Club, which is based on a true story, is a startling transformation for Matthew McConaughey.
His portrayal as a carefree, fast-living cowboy who discovers he has HIV and decides to smuggle in drugs to help others with HIV but also make a profit showed a riskier but yet more personal side to the actor that has rarely been seen.
It’s going to be interesting to see if his role in the new HBO series True Detective will be just as memorable, but considering it’s HBO I’m certain it will at least push boundaries.
Related Items
Kristin Lockhart 
Nice post, Kristin! I mostly agree with you on this because not only is interesting to start see him take on these rather strange, yet challenging roles, but also excel at them to where he changes his steps up a bit, but at the end of the day, has the same type of energy going for him that worked so well for him when he showed-up on the map all those years ago.
Thanks! Hopefully he keeps the momentum up. Interstellar looks interesting too.