Every actor has a movie in their filmography that goes largely unseen and is quickly forgotten, and Matthew McConaughey is no exception. The actor is actually no stranger to this, having appeared in 1994’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation before he was a big star. But he went on to star in another forgotten flop that was released the same year as one of his biggest hits, 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. More than 20 years later, Matthew McConaughey finally watched the trailer for Tiptoes for the first time, and the actor is sharing his reaction to the politically incorrect dramedy.
During an appearance on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast with hosts and comedians Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer, McConaughey was shown the trailer for Tiptoes for the first time. During the clip, Segura says, “Did you know that when people watch the trailer for Tiptoes, they think it’s a sketch? Did you know that no one thinks it’s real,” hinting at the bizarre nature of the film’s plot. “I did not know that,” McConaughey responds, joking that the movie “wasn’t quite real, but it was real.” Segura appears to be a fan of how absurd it all is, going on to say, “I’ve shown that to so many people, and they’re like, ‘When the f**k did SNL do this? And I’m like, ‘No, this is real, dude.”
“I’ve never seen the trailer,” McConaughey admits. “This is so good.” The main source of humor seems to be the politically incorrect casting of Gary Oldman as a little person in the film, something that was controversial at the time and has only become more unacceptable since. The trailer’s voiceover says Goldman’s turn in the film is “the role of a lifetime,” which amuses the trio. As they continue to wonder if this is all still real, the hosts ask McConaughey how he approached the role, and he goes on to elaborate on the film and its “wild concept”:
“Look, it was obviously a wild concept. [But] you see the talent it drew. It was anarchic; it still had some heart to it, which I think maybe in the script, felt less sentimental that they [trailer] did. We knew it was a soap opera, but it felt so corny. Like, ‘This is wild.'”
Tiptoes Sparked a Lot of Controversy When It Was Released
Written and directed by Matthew Bright, Tiptoes is a comedy-drama that centers on an average-sized man named Steven Bedalia (McConaughey) who is battling the notion of revealing to his pregnant fiancée Carol (Kate Beckinsale) that he comes from an entire family of little people and that this may result in their unborn child being born with dwarfism. Oldman portrays McConaughey’s brother in the film, which drew controversy at the time of release over his casting as a little person. The film also stars Patricia Arquette, Peter Dinklage, and David Alan Grier, among others.
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Viewers would be forgiven for never having heard of the film. It made its debut with a 150-minute director’s cut at a small film festival and was eventually edited down to a 90-minute producer’s cut without Bright’s approval. The writer and director was fired from the film during post-production, and the producer’s cut would go on to be screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
Reviews for the movie are brutal: Tiptoes has a 20 percent rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with some reviewers labeling it one of the worst films of all time. It’s clear that the hosts of the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast don’t fall in this camp, with Kreischer saying, “By the way, I’d like to commit that writer and director. Tom and I will do any movie you want to do, sight unseen, and we’ll pay for it. But it’s got to be as good as that f**king trailer.”
Tiptoes
can be streamed for free on Pluto TV and Amazon Prime Video.