The 5 Best Pre-McConaissance Matthew McConaughey Movies

What a difference a few years can make, eh? Prior to 2011, Matthew McConaughey’s name would usually have been quickly followed or immediately preceded by words like “shirtless,” “dire rom-com,” “nude bongo-playing” or “paycheck gig,” but here he is in 2014 heading up one of the year's most massive movies with “Interstellar,” and doing so as the Academy’s reigning Best Actor. In fact, McConaughey’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes of integrity has been so remarkable he’s gifted hacky scribes like us not just with the phrase “McConaissance,” but a lexicographical template for similar phenomena in the future. So far we’ve had the (Michael) Keatonaissance, the Reesurgence (Witherspoon), while we’re pulling for the (Jake) Gyllenaissance and the (Scarlett) Johannaissance to get their official recognition as well. Sorry to all the actors out there swimming upstream whose names don’t lend themselves to -naissance-ization, but really, you should have thought of that.

There’s a handy...