It has been several years since Matthew McConaughey last graced us with a renaissance. His rise from romantic heartthrob to dramatic actor has been studied long after his Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club. In the past few years, McConaughey has been making a name for himself as the Southern giant who is willing to throw himself into stretched-out roles. With The Rivals of Amziah King, McConaughey finally comes into full circle as he plays a town king named Amziah. It seems like the whole state of Alabama needs Amziah’s (Matthew McConaughey) honey and beekeeping business to keep running in this film. In fact, nobody seems to function without Amziah’s advice and guidance. At the beginning of the film, we are subjected to a series of auditory soundscapes and the smells of fast food, barbecue, and banjos playing in the dead heat of the night. Andrew Patterson’s direction, by showing these things in sequential order, really opens the film up to a taste of what Amziah and his posse live by. They live by only a few rules, and one of them is being confident in themselves. Amziah is confident in his own skin and willing to help anyone in need no matter who they are. So when the cops knock on his business asking for any details about what happened to his stolen honey barrels, the story bluntly moves forward into a mystery built around Amziah’s own motives.
Then enters Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), a foster child who used to live with Amziah when she was young. She reunites with Amziah after he fixes an incident involving one of his employees. The two immediately begin to bond again, and the audience is introduced to Amziah’s daily life. He wakes up, makes honey with his boys, goes to his favorite potluck spot in the evening sometimes, even plays all the bluegrass instruments for his own pleasure and liking, and finally goes home before repeating the process again. The film places emphasis on how the music flows throughout this story through a series of fast cuts of bare feet stomping, banjos plucking, and people harmonizing with hums and melodies through their mouths. Again, Amziah is just a simple working man who takes care of everybody, no matter where they came from, and that is where the conflict starts. Dob McCoy, played by Kurt Russell, enters the film with a diligent presence as he tries to take away Amziah’s business. He has been trying to get the business for years, and nobody knows why. But when Kateri starts to find out, her path leads into a dark place where she can no longer turn back.
Andrew Patterson’s debut, The Vast of Night, was a low-budget sci-fi mystery film dealing with unknown beings in the sky. The unknown beings in this film are Southern men with twirling mustaches and an agenda to murder their way to victory. Patterson is familiar with this certain territory when it comes to mystery, but with this sophomore feature, he is able to expand his horizons even further through the power of music. The Rivals of Amziah King is an infectious and slightly overbearing feature that attacks the audience’s senses of taste, smell, and hearing. Even touch becomes part of the experience once you understand Amziah’s ability to control his beehives and solve everyone’s bee problems without getting stung in the face or hands. A long sequence involving Amziah and the gang taking out a bee nest inside an elementary school mirrors his ability to heal certain individuals with a swarm of bees or with his own blubbering Christian mouth. McConaughey plays this character like any ordinary working man from the South. He is believable in the role because McConaughey is one of those tall mythical creatures. This is by far his best performance in the past few years. Angelina LookingGlass’s debut performance is one for the books, in my opinion, and one of the year’s best so far. The willingness to go toe to toe not only with McConaughey but also with the legend Kurt Russell is something to behold. Kateri’s journey toward becoming an individual begins after a major event near the end of the first act. It took me off guard, but as the story progresses, you will understand why it had to happen.
Like I mentioned before, this film can feel like sensory overload at times. Andrew Patterson seems to have had the final cut, and at 2 hours and 15 minutes, some sequences go on far too long. The elementary school beehive takedown scene does a great job of showing Amziah’s commitment to the community he loves, but it stretches on so long that it probably would have been better as a montage. Even some of the bluegrass performance scenes start to feel repetitive. Don’t get me wrong, I love a film that uses diegetic or semi-diegetic music woven into the narrative. But it feels like Patterson could not resist keeping every bit of music in the final cut. The second half of the film is where things get a little wonky. Oat (Cole Sprouse) shows up as one of the key people helping Kateri find the culprit who stole Amziah’s honey barrels, and that thread really only takes off after a chain of unpredictable circumstances. Still, as someone who respects an artist’s vision, I’m glad Patterson committed to this story while staying faithful to the worldbuilding and mythology of bluegrass music. Bluegrass is a working man’s anthem, deeply rooted in pushing through all the pain that life gives you. Patterson clearly understands that, and he uses the music to move the story forward as a reflection of what the characters believe in and struggle with. It is ultimately up to audiences to decide whether that thematic approach works or not.
For me, this is exactly what I wanted from an original film in 2026. At a time where individuality in the arts is being under attacked by chuds on the internet, this film truly shows what originality can bring in the current landscape. All I want is some good meat on the bone and some toes on the screen. I got what I paid for.