Following a six-year hiatus, the next era of “The McConaissance” may be upon us, as Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey
returns in the mystery crime thriller The Rivals of Amziah King. The thriller has now debuted at SXSW 2025 and is already being hailed as one of the best movies of the year, with McConaughey being praised for his performance as the movie lands a hugely promising score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Written and directed by Andrew Patterson, The Rivals of Amziah King stars Matthew McConaughey as the titular Amziah King alongside Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, Jake Horowitz, and Angelina LookingGlass as Kateri, and now boasts a near-perfect score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Details of the crime thriller have largely been kept under wraps but, following the debut, we now have some idea of the plot.
The Rivals of Amziah King finds McConaughey starring as Amziah King, an Oklahoma beekeeper and folk musician who welcomes his former foster child, LookingGlass’ Kateri, back into his home following the death of her mother. Becoming her mentor, Amziah slowly reveals his “hidden skills” as he and Kateri are forced to face off with, as the title reveals, his rivals.
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Beginning with James Preston Poole of Discussing Film, who awarded The Rivals of Amziah King a perfect score of 5 stars, and declared the thriller “an early contender for one of the best films of 2025.”
“The Rivals of Amziah King is a perfectly calculated mish-mash of genres that revels in its rich world-building and colorful cast. Matthew McConaughey is stellar, as usual, but newcomer Angelina LookingGlass cements herself as a new star to look out for.”
‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ Could Mark the New Era of “The McConaissance”
HBO
The praise continues courtesy of Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com, who calls The Rivals of Amziah King “A new classic of the American South that hums with earnest adoration for the people of this region, what they do, and how they celebrate life.” Alan French of FandomWire, meanwhile, calls McConaughey “brilliant” in this tale of a foster daughter finding “her way home in the beautiful tale.”
A lot of applause is also given to Angelina LookingGlass, who holds her own against Matthew McConaughey, with his performance sure to remind audiences of the actor’s scene-stealing work in the likes of True Detective and his Oscar-winning Dallas Buyers Club. Owen Gleiberman of Variety calls The Rivals of Amziah King the perfect vehicle for McConaughey’s long-awaited comeback.
“It’s been six years since Matthew McConaughey starred in a movie, and when you watch The Rivals of Amziah King, it’s easy to see why this was the one that lured him back. It gives him a role that fits his scraggly aging-bad-boy redneck charm like a glove.”
Finally, Nate Richard of Collider awarded The Rivals of Amziah King a stellar score of 9/10, declaring that it highlights director Andrew Patterson “as a filmmaker to look out for, adding that “McConaughey’s charisma has never radiated more than it does here.”
“Patterson has delivered what will inevitably go down as one of the very best and most crowd-pleasing movies of the year.”
The Rivals of Amziah King had its world premiere at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 10.
Source: DiscussingFilm, RogerEbert.com, Fandomwire, Variety, Collider
Release Date
March 10, 2025
Runtime
130 minutes
Director
Andrew Patterson
Writers
Andrew Patterson
Producers
David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, Teddy Schwarzman, John Friedberg, Will Greenfield, Michael Heimler
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