‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ Trailer: Matthew McConaughey (and a Whole Bunch of Bees) Star in Buzzy Crowdpleaser

There’s a lot to parse about “The Rivals of Amziah King,” “The Vast of Night” filmmaker Andrew Patterson’s sophomore feature, which is positively buzzing with elements as seemingly disparate as “Matthew McConaughey is a beekeeper” and “it’s also kind of a musical” and “oh, it also gets pretty violent.”

Let’s hand it off to the film‘s official synopsis to get us on solid ground: “Set within the deep backwoods of rural Oklahoma, the film follows the charismatic and musically gifted Amziah King (McConaughey) who herds a bluegrass-playing band of misfits while overseeing the premier honey-making operation in town. When Amziah’s estranged foster daughter (Angelina LookingGlass) unexpectedly returns, he leaps at the possibility to renew connection and creating a family business. But the honey game is ruthless, and Amziah’s rivals threaten to destroy everything he has built.” The film also stars Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Tony Revolori, and Owen Teague.

The film premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film and TV Festival, where our own Ryan Lattanzio called it an earnest crowdpleaser. He also hailed its production value (no surprise, coming from Patterson), writing, “Vistas of the Oklahoma landscape, and Patterson’s tenderness for the Choctaw Nation in the former of a former foster child named Ketari (newcomer Angelina LookingGlass), indicate a filmmaker with a no-doubt strong vision, each take (and there are many) embodying a sense of having been precisely storyboarded and choreographed.”

He also noted that the film “detours into energetically cut and staged musical sequences that feel like chopped-and-screwed John Carney, friends and family gathering in a living room to belt out bluegrass tunes that become earworms of their own. … Seeing McConaughey in a sorta-musical has its own obvious pleasures, the actor going all in on a character in ways he rarely has in years, even if his sweaty swagger and smarmy charisma feel like only familiar comforts. There’s too much movie here, but isn’t that better than none at all? Patterson’s big swings in filmmaking transcend the occasional shakier sum of their parts.”

Black Bear will release the film in theaters on Friday, August 14. Check out the first trailer for “The Rivals of Amziah King” below.