I don’t think I’ve had as much fun reading a book as I did reading Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I was so caught up in his stories that I didn’t even realize I was reading at the time. Just like how you can forget that you are watching a show or movie because of how much the story engages you, the same thing happened to me with this book. I read the book, but I know he used his own voice for the audiobook, which I’m sure is an even better experience.
If you were to ask me what I knew about Matthew McConaughey prior to reading the book, I don’t think I could come up with 5 solid things. I would say he is a famous actor (couldn’t name any of the movies he was in) and he would occasionally appear on the sidelines of the University of Texas football games while watching ESPN on Saturday afternoons. I really couldn’t give you any more than that.
Just like most biographies of famous people, he pitches it at the beginning of the book that he isn’t trying to recount his life, rather he wants to share the lessons he learned along the way. Man, does he have some stories to tell! He has stories going all the way back to his childhood growing up in Texas with parents that divorced themselves twice and remarried three times. Both of his parents were large enough characters that a vast amount of stories at the start of the book were centered around them. Just think about the type of people who would divorce themselves twice just to get married three times over the course of their relationship. There was tension, violence, but an underlying love that could be strained but never torn.
McConaughey writes about his two older brothers and their stories of how they proved themselves as worthy men to their father. This was a central theme in his childhood, all three of the McConaughey boys all had a distinct story of how they proved themselves as a “man” to their father. They all had a distinct story they can tell of when they transitioned from boyhood to manhood by getting a stamp of approval from their father.
McConaughey in highschool was just exactly who you would think he would be, but more importantly, he was who you wanted him to be. He won the best-looking award in his senior year. He courted girls through his charm and his pick-up truck where he took them off-roading. He brought the full package in terms of who you thought the “cool guy” in high school should be. Not only was his senior year girlfriend the most beautiful at his school, but he also said he was dating the most attractive girl in the school across town. This last sentence is how I would perfectly describe this book. It was almost more like a movie than a real-life story. Of course, the reader would think that he would have the most attractive girlfriend, but then there is always the additional kicker. In this case, it is that he is also dating the most attractive girl in the other school in town.
The book is filled with stories and lines like this. They are believable enough, but then there is always some icing that puts the story over the top. If you were to think of stories having decisioning points where it could go down two different paths, he consistently went down the more entertaining path. The stories get better and better as he tells more of them.
To most, I think people view him more as a caricature rather than a real person. He’s a slow-talking, good-looking, silly, but charming actor that doesn’t take himself too seriously and people love to impersonate. There is a real person beneath him, but he has created a personality that is larger than life. This personality is what people think of when they see him, rather than the real human that lives underneath the caricature. I was two-thirds into the book when I had a slight out-of-body experience. I had the reminder that these weren’t just crazy stories, these were all crazy stories that happened to the caricature that is Matthew McConaughey. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it was just an honest observation that made me enjoy the book even more.
I had a similar feeling when I was watching Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler. There was a scene in the movie where I was sucked out of the story and it was like I had a third-person view of myself in the theater. There I was, watching a movie with Adam Sandler and Kevin Garnett in a back room of a New York jewelry store. There was Kevin Garnett, acting as Kevin Garnett as hard as he could, obsessing over a smuggled opal from Africa that KG thinks gives him superpowers and good luck. There was another scene in the movie where Adam Sandler and The Weeknd got into a physical altercation in a nightclub over a girl. In terms of the movie and the characters they played, it made sense, but it is when you look at the scene out of the context of the movie is where the humor sat. Somewhere in “real life”, Adam Sandler, the 50+ world-famous actor known for playing silly roles, and The Weeknd, the pop star in his prime with the peak of his powers at his disposal, were pretending to fight to create a movie scene. It was like this scene was drawn up in a mad lib. It’s just objectively funny when you take a zoomed-out perspective on it and you look at the scene in a “real life” lens rather than the “movie lens”. I had very similar feelings about Greenlights when I made a similar observation, I was amused by it and it made me enjoy the book for more than just its entertainment purposes.
The best part about this book is that I know hanging out with Matthew McConaughey would be an absolute blast. I really wouldn’t be surprised if you found yourself interacting with Matthew McConaughey that it would be a story you would be telling to your death bed. Not just because it involved Matthew McConaughey, which is just like the icing on top with his own stories, but because an interaction with him would be objectively entertaining. I feel like he is almost like a chameleon and everyone can relate to him in some ways.
Imagine that you had your own story of how you met or interacted with Matthew McConaughey. I want you to take a moment to think about what that story or interaction would be with him. Close your eyes and do that exercise in your mind. Seriously.
My bet is that you were able to draw up some story about him. Whether it is passing him on the street and him saying some cheesy, but cool, line to you, going on some sort of adventure through the mountains, or seeing him shirtless at the beach in Southern California throwing a frisbee around, I know we all were able to think up a scene of how we might interact with him.
I think he is the pinnacle of a social chameleon, being able to fit into any scene or environment and thrive in it. He is relatable to everyone in some way. Whether it’s the college frat guy, the Hollywood movie star, the guy who drove around the US with a camper and his dog while he made movies, or going on some sort of spiritual journey with him in the Amazon, most people could see themselves having a good time with him. If you won some sort of contest that the reward was to “hang out with Matthew McConaughey for a week” and that is all you knew, most people would take it. Because why not? He’s able to toe the line with being a little out there, but in a way that is entertaining and makes life interesting. He lives his life by his own rules. He’s also able to do it with a smile on his face and a slight chuckle to go along with it.
Peace and Love.
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