I was not a fan of Matthew
McConaughey. Weighing whether or not I was going to see a film he was in
his presence would tip me against it. I’ve since changed my mind. As I think
back on it, it might have been the character (sleazy, unctuous) he played
regularly, combined with the fact that he played those characters so well that
it made me squirm. I began to change my
ways when they made a movie out of my favorite of Michael Connelly’s books, The Lincoln Lawyer. I wasn’t thrilled they picked McConaughey to play the title
role. On the other hand, I knew
instantly it was the right choice. Here
was a charming but slimy, opportunist with sliding scale principles. In that sense Connelly captured and McConaughey
delivered a spot-on stand-in of the country’s legal system. There’s a major
leap from the law to justice. The character and the actor walked the razor’s
edge between despicable and redeemable.
McConaughey in Mud |
In the film, Mud,
McConaughey has confirmed, now, through a significant body of work, that he has
carved out a permanent place among the great male character actors, each
creating a singular mark in the profession, character actors so strong they can
carry a film, much as McConaughey did with Mud.
We saw the seeds of this character in A
Time To Kill (an adaption of John
Grisham’s best, now on Broadway) and the result of that loss of Innocence
in The Lincoln Lawyer. Now we see it gain and again, most recently
in Killer Joe and The Paperboy, and before that in Magic Mike. It’s obvious we’re not witnessing an actor
pursuing the same goals as Daniel Day-Lewis
or Robert De Niro, becoming someone
entirely different for each role, but creating an original “type’ in much the
same way as Christopher Walken, Vincent Price, Charles Laughton, Clifton
Webb successfully created original types.
Mud, incidentally,
is a worthwhile film. Whatever you may think of Reese Witherspoon – and I like her – she does a great job here as
does Sam Shepard. Talented Tye
Sheridan and Jacob Lofland play
the two teens, one of them investing his entire view of the world on a drifter’s
honor.
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