Film tip: The Rivals of Amziah King puts McConaughey back in his element

Matthew McConaughey plays a banjo-strumming beekeeper at the centre of a warm, weird and increasingly dangerous slice of rural Americana. The Rivals of Amziah King mixes bluegrass, chosen family, honey wars and crime into a genre-hopping summer film that seems determined to keep you guessing.

Film details

• Title: The Rivals of Amziah King
• Premiere date in the Netherlands: 13 August 2026
• Director: Andrew Patterson
• Runtime: 131 minutes
• Genre: Drama, crime, thriller
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Dutch
• Age rating: 12+
• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Angelina LookingGlass, Kurt Russell, Jake Horowitz, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori and Owen Teague
• Where to watch in Rotterdam: KINO and Cinerama
• LantarenVenster: No dedicated listing could be verified at the time of writing.

What’s the vibe?

Deep in rural Oklahoma, Amziah King runs the area's leading honey operation, plays bluegrass with a wonderfully ragtag collection of friends and appears to know almost everyone worth knowing. Into this busy little kingdom walks Kateri, the former foster daughter he has not seen in years.

Amziah quickly pulls her back into his orbit, teaching her the business and welcoming her into the community around him. Unfortunately, honey is apparently a much more cut-throat industry than supermarket shelves have led us to believe.

Andrew Patterson lets the film wander between family drama, musical comedy, crime thriller, western and revenge story. One moment you are watching neighbours gather around with instruments, the next somebody is stealing a small fortune in honey. It is eccentric, warm-hearted and occasionally much darker than its sun-drenched Americana initially suggests.

Trailer

Check out the trailer below.

Why you might like it

• Eyes: Golden rural landscapes, old trucks, beehives and a sun-baked visual style that makes the American South feel almost mythological.
• Heart: Amziah and Kateri's relationship gives the film its emotional centre, surrounded by a community built around music, work and chosen family.
• Mind: Beneath the eccentric crime story sits a question about inheritance: what do we really leave behind, a business, a reputation or the people we taught how to carry on?

Critical reception.

The Rivals of Amziah King has received a strong critical response, although its unusual structure has proved divisive. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film 89% from 98 critic reviews, alongside an 80% verified audience score. The critical consensus highlights the film's unpredictable genre mix, Matthew McConaughey's charisma and Angelina LookingGlass's debut performance.

Metacritic gives it 74 out of 100 from 21 reviews, placing it in the generally favourable category. Sixteen reviews are positive, five are mixed and none are classified as negative.

Some of the strongest reviews have celebrated the film's originality and communal warmth. RogerEbert.com responded enthusiastically to its combination of music, Southern characters and unexpected storytelling, while The Daily Beast called McConaughey's performance his best in years.

Others have been less convinced by the second half. The Guardian criticised the film as overlong and structurally unwieldy, while the Associated Press felt that its jumps between comedy, family drama, heist film, western and revenge story eventually became too much. Even the more sceptical reviews tend to agree that McConaughey remains magnetic and that the film has a distinctive personality.

The film had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2025, where it received a standing ovation. It was later selected for the Bright Horizons Competition at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Scene to watch for

Keep an eye on the impromptu music session at Amziah's home.

Friends gradually arrive with instruments and Kateri finds herself pulled into the middle of the gathering. The scene does very little in conventional plot terms, but it tells you almost everything about what Amziah has built around himself: community, music and a place where people turn up when called.

It is also a useful reminder that McConaughey playing music in a room full of banjos is a surprisingly effective cinematic resource.

Recommended pairing

Lean into the rural mood with warm cornbread, grilled vegetables and something finished with a little honey. Add iced tea or lemonade and you are sufficiently prepared for two hours of bees, bluegrass and highly questionable business practices.

Afterwards, put on a bluegrass playlist and take a long walk somewhere green. You may briefly develop ambitions to become a beekeeper. Give that feeling at least 24 hours before purchasing protective clothing.

Need-to-knows

The Rivals of Amziah King is Andrew Patterson's second feature after The Vast of Night, his acclaimed low-budget science-fiction debut. His follow-up is considerably bigger, but keeps the same willingness to let characters, conversations and unusual rhythms interrupt the expected plot.

The film also marks a major live-action return for Matthew McConaughey after several years away from leading film roles. He does plenty of his own singing and playing, with music forming a genuine part of the storytelling rather than simply sitting underneath it.

Angelina LookingGlass makes her feature-film debut as Kateri and carries a significant portion of the story opposite McConaughey. Her performance has been one of the recurring points of praise in positive reviews.

The soundtrack is a major ingredient, with original music produced with T Bone Burnett and contributions connected to The Avett Brothers and other roots musicians.

And despite all that Oklahoma atmosphere, the film was actually shot in Alabama. Production took place around Birmingham and several smaller communities in the state during the summer of 2023.