Hollywood has never quite known what to do with Matthew Modine. Sure, he had a highly enviable hot streak in the eighties and nineties, but he never quite mixed with the mainstream in the same manner as other successful actors of his time (Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage). This appears to suit the individualistic Modine perfectly well, however. The roles he has excelled at over the years primarily suggest a serious-minded actor looking to challenge himself, not someone who consistently wants to see their name at the top of a marquee.
Modine doesn’t neatly fit into any single box, as there has always been something slightly and endearingly “off” about him. He’s too sensitive to be an action star, too masculine to be a comedian, too funny to be limited to drama, too edgy to be the romantic lead, too affable to be the villain, too intelligent to be the heartthrob, and too quirky to be the hero. Yet he’s done all these things (and more) over his four-decade-long career and he’s done them quite well. Modine possesses the heart of a chameleon, but his movie-star looks and screen presence have always overshadowed it.
To call Modine underrated seems trivial, but to say his talents are fully appreciated rings untrue. He has worked with more of the greatest directors of his time—Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Alan Parker, Abel Ferrara, Mike Figgis, Gillian Armstrong, John Sayles, Alan J. Pakula, John Schlesinger, Tom DiCillo, Alan Rudolph—than most of his contemporary actors. Yet Modine is still commonly neglected when the best actors of his generation are listed and discussed.
There is something endlessly mysterious and downright likable about Matthew Modine that makes his screen presence as captivating today as it ever was. Though the majority of his most renowned work is from the eighties and nineties, it doesn’t mean that his best work is behind him. To this day, Modine continues to steadily lend his unconventional talents and unique presence to film, television, and streaming projects of all types and scales.
Honorable Mentions: Stranger Things (2016-2017) and Weeds (2007)
Before going into Matthew Modine’s feature films, it is important to note some of his more recent and renowned work in television and streaming. Both Weeds and Stranger Things cast Modine as the antagonist for the season in which he is featured. Playing against the decency he effortlessly exudes, Modine’s work is entirely effective and convincing in both series.
In Weeds, Modine portrays the corrupt and sleazy city developer, Sullivan Groff. In Stranger Things, he portrays Dr. Martin Brenner, a creepy research scientist who performs inhumane experiments on a gifted child. Both roles bring something new and fresh out of Modine, providing him with the opportunity to explore some of his more sinister qualities.
10. Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021)
Containing one of Mattew Modine’s most recent performances, Operation Varsity Blues is a documentary that melds real-life footage and interviews with dramatic reenactments. In these reenactments, Modine portrays Rick Singer, the man behind one of America’s most infamous college admissions scandals.
Though the film’s documentary aspects get their points across with simplicity, the dramatizations are truly responsible for grabbing the audience’s attention. They are well-made, exceedingly well-acted, and plenty worthy to wholly comprise their own movie (and it’s sometimes a bit frustrating that they don’t).
Even though the film’s style forces it to be presented in fragments, Modine’s performance is still a commanding and full one. With simple directness, he manages to create a complete character out of Singer. Even with compromised screen time, we get a strong sense of Singer’s cunning nature, his shrewd business ethics, his pathological ambition, his ice-cold humanity, and, ultimately, his overwhelming loneliness.
Modine manages to convey many things with his layered performance in Operation Varsity Blues, which is all the more impressive when considering the creative limitations of the film’s format.
9. Flowers for Algernon (2000)
Though there are better movies featuring Matthew Modine that did not make this list, it is impossible to ignore the feat he accomplished in this made-for-CBS production.
Based on Daniel Keyes’ classic, Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally impaired man named Charlie Gordon who undergoes a radical experiment to increase his IQ. Modine plays Gordon in the film, believably portraying the character’s arc from a handicapped innocent to a man gifted with genius-level abilities.
Modine’s straightforward and truthful approach to both sides of Charlie is what makes his performance so successful. Charlie initially just wants to fit in and be normal, and Modine portrays him with dignity and without pandering for pity. When the character transforms, Modine communicates not only the joy of Charlie’s newfound abilities, but also the painful self-awareness that comes with them.
Neither version of Charlie is over-simplified, as they are both messily and achingly human. Though Flowers for Algernon is slightly inhibited by its movie-of-the-week format, Modine elevates it significantly with a highly sensitive and tear-inducing performance.
8. If… Dog… Rabbit… (a.k.a. One Last Score, 1999)
His name may be accredited to over a dozen short films, but If… Dog… Rabbit… is, to date, the only feature film written and directed by (as his credit reads) Matthew Avery Modine.
Released in America with the generic title of One Last Score, the quirky and character-driven crime drama was unfairly lost in the endless stream of Tarantino knockoffs that were being released in the mid- to late-nineties. Unlike titles of that nature, If… Dog… Rabbit… is a contemplative film made for adults that examines the ramifications of crime and violence rather than openly celebrating them.
In the film, Modine portrays Johnnie Cooper, a recently released convict who is trying to go straight despite his criminal family’s overwhelming influence. Modine, who previously excelled at portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, cast himself as the stoic straight man this time around. His performance is a subdued and reactionary one, allowing for his costars (John Hurt, Bruce Dern, David Keith, Kevin J. O’Connor) to steal the spotlight with their lively characters and colorful dialogue.
Modine’s internalized and ego-less work in the film is as effective as anything he’s ever done. It showcases the actor’s ability to speak volumes with the quietest and subtlest of methods.
7. Gross Anatomy (1989)
Gross Anatomy is one of Matthew Modine’s most charming efforts as a movie star. His portrayal of first-year med student Joe Slovak showcases the charisma, affability, and humor he exuded while headlining commercial movies in the eighties and nineties.
Modine’s role is akin to a thinking person’s version of Tom Cruise’s role in Top Gun (which Modine famously turned down). He displays a machismo and cockiness that is balanced by fierce intelligence and quirky behavior. Despite the film’s commercial aspirations, Modine’s performance avoids superficiality and is magnificently skilled and lively.
Typical of his best work, Modine displays a wonderful and giving chemistry with his costars in the film, namely Todd Field, Christine Lahti, and Daphne Zuniga (with whom he previously shared the screen in Vision Quest). Also typical, Modine displays a highly convincing and completely seamless character arc.
Joe starts as an arrogant young man who takes nothing seriously, then believably develops into an enlightened individual with self-doubt and awareness of his chosen profession’s responsibilities. Modine’s naturalistic performance appears deceptively simple at first glance, but is actually quite elaborately detailed upon closer examination.
6. And the Band Played On (1993)
This star-studded, Emmy-winning, made-for-HBO movie packs an unforgettable dramatic wallop. And the Band Played On centers on the early days of AIDS, from its scientific discovery to the U.S. government’s lack of involvement or care in containing it.
In the film, Matthew Modine portrays the real-life character of Dr. Don Francis, an immunologist who fights an uphill battle to understand and control the epidemic.
Modine’s portrayal of Dr. Francis evokes Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Modine provides Dr. Francis with upright moral integrity, and the character’s passionate belief in what he’s doing is entirely believable and clear.
Modine effectively communicates the horror, anger, and confusion of the epidemic and his character’s ordeal in fighting it. It is an intensely focused and heartfelt performance that supports the ambitions and messages of this dramatically bold film.
5. Vision Quest (1985)
One of Matthew Modine’s most celebrated roles is his portrayal of an obsessively ambitious high school wrestler who goes to extreme measures to make the most competitive weight class in his district.
Modine’s youthful performance expresses the film’s themes of pushing personal limitations and living for the moment. Showcasing his abilities early in his career, he also believably enacts a sincere coming of age story with surprisingly complex emotions.
Modine’s portrayal of Louden Swain is different from most of the other eighties teens we’ve all seen onscreen. Sure, he’s plenty sex-obsessed and naïve, but there’s also a noticeable edge to him. When he develops an all-consuming infatuation with an older woman (Linda Fiorentino), he not only displays puppy dog cuteness but also shockingly aggressive jealousy.
Louden, like all teenagers, is comprised of sloppily entangled and confused emotions. Modine naturally embodies this state of being, creating a sympathetic and painfully truthful depiction of life at the dawn of adulthood.
4. Married to the Mob (1988)
It should be clear by now that Matthew Modine has never been a typical leading man. Nothing proves this more than his portrayal of Special Agent Mike Downey in Jonathan Demme’s masterful mafia comedy, Married to the Mob.
The role is a prime example of how Modine never takes the predictable route with his work. His absurdly straight-laced F.B.I. agent is a collection of endearing idiosyncrasies, awkward social skills, and comically exaggerated aloofness.
Modine has no concern with appearing tough or masculine in the role. His vanity is fully tossed aside to create an indisputable, though wholly lovable, dork. It is one of the freest, funniest, and quirkiest performances of his career.
Modine’s sparkling and vivacious chemistry with lead Michelle Pfeiffer also provides an example of how generously the actor shares the screen with his costars.
3. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Matthew Modine’s most celebrated role is likely that of Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War drama, Full Metal Jacket.
Portraying a Marine in boot camp for the first half of the film, Modine begins as a sarcastic naïf who uses humor to combat the fear and pain of his reality. In the second half of the film, he’s a war correspondent who directly experiences the horrors of battle on the front line. Throughout the film, Private Joker struggles to maintain his sanity, soul, and sense of humor despite the death, destruction, and lack of compassion he regularly faces.
Modine makes it clear that Private Joker’s inability to fully lose himself in the war is the point of his character’s journey. Though he is hardened and compromised by the film’s ending, he’s not irreparably broken, nor is he the soulless killing machine into which the Marines tried to transform him.
The emotional intricacy of Private Joker’s arc doesn’t necessitate an overly dramatic or bold interpretation. It calls for the finely detailed and thoughtfully calculated performance that Modine gives. The actor’s gift for quietly communicating complex emotions serves Full Metal Jacket’s intentions masterfully and with unparalleled grace.
2. Equinox (1992)
One of Matthew Modine’s greatest assets as an actor is his versatility. He has repeatedly proven that he can portray a seemingly endless variety of characters with honesty and directness. No single movie showcases Modine’s talents more than Alan Rudolph’s surreal drama, Equinox.
In the film, Modine plays twins—separated at birth and with no knowledge of the other’s existence—who have opposite personalities. Henry Petosa is honest and innocent. Working as a mechanic, he lives a quiet life, too shy to take the initiative with the girl of his dreams (Lara Flynn Boyle). Freddy Ace is cold and ambitious. He works as a gangster’s chauffer, supporting a beautiful but shallow wife (Lori Singer).
What makes Modine’s work in Equinox so special is his understated ability to play opposite extremes. He physically changes when playing Henry or Freddy, walking, speaking, and holding himself differently. Modine never resorts to conspicuous theatricality to achieve this, however, and his transformation is always an invisible one.
Modine quietly draws you into the lives of the two characters, and it’s easy to forget while watching the film that they’re being portrayed by the same actor. Only in hindsight is it clear how impressively rare, believable, and subtle Modine’s work in Equinox truly is.
1. Birdy (1984)
His work in Alan Parker’s Birdy contains all the elements of a great Matthew Modine performance. He is a variety of things in one role: eccentric, bizarre, lovable, pure, earnest, gentle, aloof, awkward, clumsy, sensitive, enthusiastic, intense, strong, harsh, troubled, and broken—sometimes all at once. He also shares an impressively generous and lifelike chemistry with a costar (in this case, a young and rising Nicolas Cage). Lastly, he exhibits a completely transformative and convincing character arc.
In flashback scenes, Modine’s Birdy is an innocent, bird-obsessed teenager who happily and obliviously lives in his own little world. In present-day scenes, he’s an emotionally scarred Vietnam veteran who copes with his trauma by behaving like one of the beloved birds from his youth.
As is often the case with Modine’s best work, he never makes obvious choices in the role. His performance is refreshingly unpredictable and imperfectly human. Modine never plays Birdy for easy sympathy or laughs, nor does he allow for his odd behavior to make him completely unrelatable.
No matter how wounded or peculiar Birdy is, Modine always portrays him as a complicated individual who, much like the actor himself, can’t be labeled as any one thing. It’s a highly moving, effortlessly lifelike, and endearingly strange performance that no other actor could own with the same humor, skill, and humanity as Matthew Modine.
Also See: Short Cuts, The Blackout, Memphis Belle, Pacific Heights, The Real Blonde, Mary, Orphans, Army of One, The Maker, The Browning Version, Mrs. Soffel, Streamers, Bye Bye Love, Wind, Cutthroat Island, and Matthew Modine’s numerous short films.
