On DVD and Blu Ray - "Dallas Buyers Club" - Matthew McConaughey's (The Lincoln Lawyer) Oscar-winning performance powers this biopic of a Texas electrician, circa 1985, whose hard-partying ways catches up with him- notified by Doctors that he's HIV positive and given 30 days to live, his free-wheelin', homophobic sort, "Ron Woodroof", ditches the seemingly ineffective governmental approved treatments, turns drug-smuggler and fires up his own clinic to dish out alternative medicines to the local populace also battling the disease. Although there's undoubtedly plenty of liberties taken (for cinematic purposes) in this "Inspired By True Events" tale that many would be well within their rights to file grievances against, what I found as a self-contained film was a surprisingly well-directed and involving story of an extremely flawed but dynamic character who fought mightily to add days to a life which he previously took for granted.
McConaughey, losing 47 pounds for the role, gives the cinematic performance of his career and fully invests himself in a complex character the likes of which that I would have never thought the 44-year-old would have been capable of a mere five years ago. It's been a banner year for the Uvalde, Texas native, with an excellent performance as a grimy fugitive in May, 2013's Mud. That said, I do believe he put forth even better work as an obsessive, existentialist investigator in HBO's True Detective. Some have termed the actor's career resurgence as "The McConaissance"- hell, I think it fits.
Many will also remember Jared Leto's (Requiem For A Dream) exuberant, yet sensitive turn as a fellow AIDS patient and would-be transsexual, "Rayon", who forms an uneasy business partnership with the bigoted Woodroof in order to more effectively market their products to potential lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers. Leto also sacrificed to land the role, with the 42-year-old (what!) losing 30 pounds- his is a specific character who didn't exist in real life, whipped up by screenwriters as a sort of representative embodiment of the LGBT community assaulted with the AIDS outbreak. Although an effective role, it's also more of a visual experience than one with true depth- the powers-that-be at the Academy Awards felt differently, with Leto also taking home a little golden statuette for Best Supporting Actor. If I would have had a vote, I would have selected Michael Fassbender's turn as a hateful plantation owner in 12 Years A Slave as the best performance from an actor in a supporting role in 2013.
Jennifer Garner (Juno) is fine in support as a sympathetic physician, while Steve Zahn (Out Of Sight) pops up a few times (rather conveniently) as a friendly police officer. Denis O'Hare supplies a stock character in the form of an arrogant Doctor, while Michael O'Neill makes a couple of appearances as an antagonistic FDA agent. A grizzled Griffin Dunne (An American Werewolf In London) is damned near unrecognizable as a renegade American doctor operating in Mexico.
Canadian director Jean Marc-Vallee keeps events rolling along in commendable fashion- this is by no means a poorly written film, yet it's better helmed, filmed and acted than scripted. My call is to watch it for McConaughey in his prime- it's a solid, interesting drama that's elevated by a commanding performance. Be forewarned, some of this is just plain hard to watch, and appropriately so.
8.5 out of 10
Director: Jean Marc-Vallee
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Steve Zahn, Denis O'Hare, Michael O'Neill, Griffin Dunne and Dallas Roberts
Run-Time: 117 minutes
MPAA: Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity and drug use
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