In the 90’s a lot of things happened. Pokemon was introduced into our lives, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, Manchester United won the Champions League, and on a quieter, smaller scale, a fresh face actor began to send waves through Hollywood, Matthew McConaughey. During the mid-late 90’s McConaughey made hit film after hit film, increasing his stock each time. His reputation was growing and there was a lot of promise around this young actor. Then something happened, something that happens to a lot of actors, especially the traditionally handsome ones. They get typecast as the romantic comedy guy.
Through the 2000’s McConaughey went from being lost in the crowd to being a running joke and channel changer. In his hit film A Time To Kill a line is used towards McConaugheys character, “You’re throwing away your career”. There’s a sense of irony that this line was used just a few years before his promising career would go south. It’s not fair to say he threw his career away, sadly these things happen to very talented actors, they can be forgotten or stuck in the same role.
A point can be argued that EdTV, not a bad film in it’s own right, was the catalyst for this movement. It’s always the case, the few first romantic comedies might be okay, but then that’s all you get, and they become worse, they become…..Failure To Launch. Now in between this phase we got the odd gem, such as Fraility, A little unknown thriller about a serial killer claiming he hears the voice of god in a very gripping rol
e, and We Are Marshall which is such a masterful performance by McConaughey but then more RomComs came. Just when it looked like it was all over for him, something happened, a small film called Tropic Thunder came around, an absolute must watch if you haven’t seen it. There was a small buzz, a beep from the life support machine, the heart had begun to beat again. It reminded people who had followed his career as a youngster that this guy had talent, a bag load of talent and it was just sitting there waiting to be utilized again. There was a small blip after Tropic Thunder in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, but at this point he could have been signed up before Tropic Thunder was released. He made his return to the big screen after 2 years with critically acclaimed The Lincoln Lawyer. This was McConaughey getting back on the motorway (highway to our American readers) straight into the fast lane. Most recently we’ve had Killer Joe, the most underrated performance of the year and criminally ignored by The Oscars (surprise surprise).
It shows that the acting business is one of extreme ups and downs. Any actor can come back from the brink of the abyss to have a hit career. Hopefully the days of McConaughey being type cast as ‘The Romantic Comedy’ guy are over. With a list of big dramatic performances to come; Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club. He is (thankfully) back on the righteous path of making the movies he proved he was capable of making earlier in his career, and love him or hate him for his RomComs it can only mean good things for the movie business when an actor is back to his best. He’s been mocked and sniggered at but now all he deserves is acclaim. He’s paid his dues well and truly but the next few years could be huge for Matthew McConaughey. He might return to the odd romantic comedy now and again, but they won’t be anywhere near the travesties that he’s been associated with in the past and there’s a sneak feeling that his role in Dallas Buyers Club orRon Woodroof could earn him a nod from the Oscars for Best Actor, could you ever imagine the man from Fools Golds winning Best Actor? What a strange and wonderful world this can be.
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