Matthew McConaughey has one of the more versatile careers of a Hollywood leading actor. Though he can sometimes get boxed into a certain genre or become typecast as a certain type of character, he has proven that he has a wide range. Looking at his filmography, there is a collection of films ranging from silly comedies to hard-hitting dramas.
While some fans might prefer a certain type of McConaughey role, he has been excellent in both comedies and dramas. For a closer look at his skills, here are some of his best roles ranked from the most comedic to the most serious.
Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder is a wildly hilarious comedy about a group of actors filming a war movie. When these spoiled thespians find themselves in an actual dangerous situation, they are forced to become the soldiers they’ve been pretending to be.
McConaughey has a supporting role as Rick Peck, an energetic and greedy agent working for Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller). While McConaughey might be overshadowed by some of the wackier performers in the movie, like Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr., it’s still fun to see him embrace his silly side.
The Wolf of Wall Street
In the midst of McConaughey’s comeback, he scored a small supporting role in this wild Martin Scorsese film. Based on a true story, The Wolf of Wall Street stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a wealthy stock-broker whose level of success is only matched by his level of excess.
McConaughey appears in a couple of early scenes but steals the show as DiCaprio’s early mentor in the world of finance. McConaughey lets loose with some of his craziest tics and behavior making for some of the funniest moments in the movie.
Dazed and Confused
In his very first film role, McConaughey helped create one of the most iconic film characters of all time. Dazed and Confused is an endlessly rewatchable high school comedy set in the ’70s. The simple story follows various groups of students as they search for a party on the last day of school.
Once again, McConaughey steals the show as Wooderson, a former high school athlete who still hangs around with the younger kids, getting high and hitting on the girls who are far too young for him. Some of the lines McConaughey has in the film are absolutely legendary and it feels like a role he was born to play.
Magic Mike
Magic Mike is the kind of movie that has no right to be as good and as entertaining as it ends up being. The story follows an ambitious but reckless male stripper (Channing Tatum) who takes a young dancer under his wing while falling for the young man’s sister.
McConaughey stands out in a supporting role as the club manager and former dancer who is now Tatum’s boss. McConaughey strikes the perfect balance between being seductive and being totally slimy. He is equally effective in both modes.
The Lincoln Lawyer
McConaughey started his comeback trail with this surprisingly gripping thriller. He stars as Mick Haller, a very successful defense lawyer who takes a case defending a wealthy young man. However, as the case continues, he begins to suspect his client is guilty of more than just one crime.
McConaughey is a charming leading man and effortlessly plays the kind of guy who can win over an entire room in seconds. However, when it comes time to explore Mick’s more conflicted feelings about his job, McConaughey is incredibly powerful.
Interstellar
Many actors would jump at the chance to join a Christopher Nolan film and McConaughey managed to become involved with one of the filmmaker’s most ambitious projects. Set in the near future, McConaughey stars as an engineer who is selected to join a space mission to find a new habitable planet.
McConaughey has a lot required of him in the lead role. He plays a loving father, a hero willing to risk his life to save the planet and a man racked with guilt over the life he left behind. He is very effective in all aspects and gives the film some of its most emotional moments.
Mud
Mud is one of the smaller films on this list but no less enjoyable than the others. The film follows two young boys who come across a mysterious stranger (McConaughey) hiding out alone in the wilderness. The boys form a bond with the man and help him reunite with his lost love.
This is one of McConaughey’s more understated performances as the soft-spoken man. However, he adds a beautiful folk-lore quality to the part, making the mysterious man compelling and charming even as we learn more about his dark past.
A Time to Kill
A Time to Kill marks one of McConaughey’s first leading man roles which helped launch his career in Hollywood. Based on a John Grisham novel, McConaughey stars as a lawyer hired to defend a man (Samuel L. Jackson) who killed the men who attacked and brutalized his daughter.
McConaughey proved himself a great leading man in the role. He is a man full of conviction and skilled at his job who is faced with a lot of struggles and threats to overcome in the pursuit of justice.
Dallas Buyers Club
McConaughey won his first Oscar for this amazing performance as a complex and real-life character, Ron Woodroof. After contracting AIDS, Woodroof sought out experimental medicine to help his condition. This led to him starting his own business of distributing drugs to fellow AIDS patients at a time when the disease was not widely understood.
Woodroof is not always an easy character to like and McConaughey doesn’t shy away from the uglier aspects in his depiction. His physical transformation is disturbing but the raw and painful performance goes far deeper than that.
Killer Joe
McConaughey can be an extremely charismatic and likable actor, but Killer Joe proved he can also be extremely dark and terrifying. McConaughey stars as a contract killer who is hired by a desperate young man to kill his mother.
The dark and twisted crime tale is a brutal noir with McConaughey embracing his dark side like never before. He is unsettling while still maintaining that trademark charm, albeit with an underlined sense of menace. It is one of his best performances to date.
