“Dallas Buyers Club” is an uncomfortably raw and realistic telling of the true story of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a Texas electrician diagnosed with HIV in 1986. Woodroof, who leads a life filled with bull riding, alcohol, cocaine, homophobia and unprotected sex, is told he has one month to live. With no drug available to treat HIV and having been excluded from AZT trials, Woodroof decides to take his healthcare into his own hands. He starts the Dallas Buyers Club, a distribution center for drugs he thought would help HIV–positive and AIDS patients but were unapproved and unavailable to people in the United States. With the help of business partner Rayon (Jared Leto) and their doctor (Jennifer Garner), Woodroof creates a very large business, which tries to save many lives.
Don’t let the Garner and McConaughey combination fool you—this movie is no “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.” In two mature and challenging roles, they co–star beautifully. But the breakthrough star is most definitely Leto. Playing a transgender suffering from AIDS and cocaine addiction, his acting steals the show and screams for an Oscar nomination.
The filmmakers of “Dallas Buyers Club” do not hold back; they make no effort to shelter or protect the audience. Nothing about this film is polite—nudity, drugs, blood and guns appear—though none of it is too much; it all feels very real and true to these characters and to their story. Not only is the film an exceptional piece in and of itself, but it is also an interesting look into the 1960s phenomenon of buyers clubs and the mostly unknown historical figure of Ron Woodroof.
Grade: A Rating & Runtime: R, 117 mins. See if you liked: “Milk”
