The best Matthew McConaughey movies, ranked

This 90s film is a racially charged story about revenge and justice in the Deep South when a 10-year-old Tonya Hailey, a Black girl, is abducted, raped, and left for dead by two white men. Tonya’s father, Carl Lee Hailey (played by Samuel L. Jackson), distraught and fearing a biased justice system, takes matters into his own hands. He shoots and kills the men at the courthouse before their trial. Carl Lee seeks help from Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey), a young white lawyer. Jake reluctantly takes the case, aware of the immense racial tension and the difficulty of getting Carl Lee acquitted. The trial becomes a powder keg, with the Ku Klux Klan threatening violence and the Black community yearning for justice. Jake, with the help of his law student partner Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock), builds a case that appeals to the jury’s humanity, focusing on Carl Lee’s emotional state and his motive to protect his daughter.

Now a Netflix series of the same name, The Lincoln Lawyer is about the ingenuity and struggles of a man who runs a law office out of the back of his Lincoln. McConaughey’s charm and wit make for a perfect fit playing an attorney, making this one of the more unique legal dramas of the time period. This movie also definitely helped tie McConaughey to the vehicle brand in the title, as he’s been making commercials riding inside of Lincolns ever since.