9 Forgotten Matthew McConaughey Films From the 1990s Every Fan Should Watch
When thinking about Matthew McConaughey‘s movies from the ’90s, most people probably remember Dazed and Confused or Contact.. But those were far from his only movies of the decade. Before he became one of Hollywood’s biggest leading men, McConaughey popped up in several films that have since been overshadowed by his better-known hits.
And one of his fellow ’90s stars remains an important part of his career today. McConaughey reunites with Woody Harrelson for the Apple TV comedy series Brothers, with the longtime friends playing fictionalized versions of themselves. The premise also borrows from a very real question that has followed the pair: Could they actually be brothers?
That possibility first came up after McConaughey’s mother, Kay, told Harrelson that she had once “known” his father. When McConaughey and Harrelson compared the timing, they realized there was a chance they could share a biological father. Harrelson has said he is willing to take a DNA test, while McConaughey has been more hesitant. For now, however, the mystery remains unresolved, with Vanity Fair reporting that the two have not confirmed whether they are actually related.
In honor of the new show, here are nine of McConaughey’s forgotten ’90s films.
Angels in the Outfield (1994)
Buena Vista Pictures/Everett Collection
One year after Dazed and Confused, McConaughey appeared in Disney’s Angels in the Outfield. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Roger, a young boy who sees angels helping the struggling California Angels baseball team. McConaughey plays outfielder Ben Williams, who gets a little heavenly help making an incredible catch. His role is fairly small, but the cast also included future stars such as Adrien Brody. Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd and Tony Danza rounded out the cast.
Boys on the Side (1995)
Everett Collection
Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore lead this road trip movie about three women who form an unlikely friendship while traveling across the country. McConaughey plays Abe Lincoln, a Tucson police officer who falls in love with Barrymore’s character, Holly, and yet has her arrested for murder. It is one of his smaller early roles. Boys on the Side was also the final movie directed by Herbert Ross, the director behind Footloose and Steel Magnolias.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995/1997)
New Line Cinema/Everett Collection
It was filmed in 1994 and first released in 1995 as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After McConaughey and costar Renée Zellweger became famous, it was re-edited, retitled Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and released again in 1997. Zellweger plays a teenager who encounters Leatherface and his murderous family after leaving her prom. McConaughey plays Vilmer, a sadistic tow-truck driver with a mechanical leg. McConaughey was originally going to play a smaller character. However, when the role of Vilmer became available, he auditioned by using a spoon as a weapon and frightened the casting secretary reading the scene with him, and he got the part.
Scorpion Spring (1995)
Everett Collection
This may be the most obscure movie on the list. Scorpion Spring is a low-budget crime thriller starring Alfred Molina, Esai Morales, and Rubén Blades. McConaughey only appears near the end as a drug lord named El Rojo. He later admitted that he had planned to improvise and had not studied the script beforehand. Shortly before filming, he discovered that his scene included a long monologue in Spanish. McConaughey later called it an important lesson in preparing for a role, according to The Independent.
Lone Star (1996)
Everett Collection
In John Sayles’ neo-noir Western Lone Star, a Texas sheriff named Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) investigates human remains found in the desert. The case may be connected to Sam’s late father, Buddy Deeds, and the disappearance of a corrupt sheriff played by Kris Kristofferson. McConaughey appears in flashbacks as Buddy, Sam’s father, who is at the center of the mystery.
Sayles received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay, and Lone Star was restored and released by the Criterion Collection in 2024.
A Time to Kill (1996)
Everett Collection
Admittedly, A Time to Kill is not quite as forgotten as the other movies here. However, it is easy to forget that McConaughey landed the role only three years after Dazed and Confused. He plays Jake Brigance, a Mississippi attorney who defends Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), a Black father on trial for killing the two white men who brutally attacked his daughter. Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland and Kiefer Sutherland were also part of the cast. The movie opened on July 24, 1996, just weeks after Lone Star, and turned McConaughey into a leading man.
Larger Than Life (1996)
Everett Collection
That same year, McConaughey popped up in a Bill Murray comedy about an elephant. Murray plays motivational speaker Jack Corcoran, who inherits an elephant named Vera from the father he never knew and has to get her across the country. McConaughey appears as Tip Tucker, a paranoid truck driver who gives Jack and Vera a ride.
The Newton Boys (1998)
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
McConaughey reunited with Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater for The Newton Boys. Based on the real-life Newton Gang, the film stars McConaughey as Willis Newton alongside Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich and Vincent D’Onofrio as his bank-robbing brothers. Despite its cast, the movie did not do well at the box office and never became one of McConaughey and Linklater’s better-known films.
EDtv (1999)
Universal Pictures/Everett Collection
Ron Howard‘s EDtv stars McConaughey as Ed Pekurny, a video-store clerk who agrees to let a television network film his life around the clock. Harrelson plays his attention-seeking older brother, Ray, while Jenna Elfman plays Ray’s girlfriend, Shari. The movie was released one year after The Truman Show, so comparisons were inevitable. The difference is that Ed willingly gives up his privacy for fame. This was the first time McConaughey and Harrelson worked together and clearly sparked a decades-long friendship.
Which film is your favorite from this list? What else would you add? Let us know in the comments!
Remind 
February 2021
1990s Rom-Coms
Pop some popcorn and cozy up to feel-good movies and TV shows from a generation ago.
Buy This Issue