On Matthew McConaughey with Killer Joe & Magic Mike

Rightly or wrongly Matthew McConaughey has been typecast as the male rom-com go to guy, despite doing some interesting work early in his career. It seems that as McConaughey reaches the middle stages of his career, he is seeking out a more varied role and this month has starred in films directed by American legend William Friedkin and current American wonder-director Steven Soderbergh. These are Killer Joe and Magic Mike respectively. Both these roles show darker and more developed sides to McConaughey as an actor.  

Killer Joe is a Deep South thriller that despite occasionally feeling too dramatic and unrealistic is still hugely entertaining. McConaughey channels his inner Texan to bring the titular Joe to life with menace and fans of his rom-coms will be shocked beyond belief at the antics of Joe. It may be farcical at times, but Friedkin likes to shock and shock it does. It also contains the funniest scene in cinema containing a loose thread.

Magic Mike just once again shows that Soderbergh is the master of genre cinema. Science-fiction, biographical drama, crime caper, action, medical outbreak: these are just some of the genres that Soderbergh has worked in. Now with Magic Mike he has turned his hand to male stripping and created an unconventional rom-com. Very unconventional. McConaughey plays the owner of a Tampa strip club where Mike is his star performer struggling with credit (another reason this rom-com is unconventional is that it deals with the working mans’ struggle in recession threatened America). The final third does fall down as it is unable to maintain the same level of engagement while damning the stripping profession, but it is a fantastically fun film, that is well written, well acted and more than it seems. Once again proving that Soderbergh can turn his hand to any story and do it better than 90% of everyone else. Magic Mike also proves again that Soderbergh is a master with his camera, using it beautifully at all times and always finding the angle or the framing that makes the shot that much better.