Dallas Buyers Club

3 out of 4 stars

There are some films that have a predictable storyline, but it's the performances that bowl you over and The Dallas Buyers Club is one of those films. Set in the mid-1980s as the AIDS epidemic hit a worldwide nerve, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a fast-living electrician and rodeo cowboy, parties one too many times with a harum of Dallas hookers and ends up in a hospital bed being told that he has HIV. Ron, a hard drinking homophobe, thinks that only gay people are afflicted with the virus until he remembers the strung out hookers and countless one night stands. He tries to obtain AZT, before it was approved by the FDA, through anyone that doesn't have a prescription pad or medical license.

After being chastised by his buddies and being looked down upon by the community, Ron heads down to Mexico, through his AZT contact, and is given the whole truth behind the fallacies of AZT and how alternative, non FDA approved medicine, can help him and others with HIV/AIDS. Helping Ron sell the medicine is Rayon (Jared Leto), a drag queen who looks like Marc Bolan, as they from a dysfunctional friendship and partnership by forming the Dallas Buyers Club, an exclusive membership where HIV/AIDS patients can obtain medicine under the nose of the FDA. As the Buyers Club expands it's clientele, Dr. Sevard (Denis O' Hare) of Dallas Mercy Hospital and a no-nonsense FDA agent (Michel O'Neill) try to pull the plug on Ron's operation.

A David and Goliath story of the truest sense of the word regarding the flaws of the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, Matthew McConaughey gives an unforgettable performance as Ron Woodroof. His lust for life and fight for it makes the film stand out from other films that have dealt with homophobia during the AIDS scare, from Philadelphia to And The Band Played On. Jared Leto, in his first film role in over 7 years, delivers a touching and mesmerizing performance as Rayon that moves you from when he first encounters Ron in a neighboring hospital bed to being alone in his room with T. Rex blaring on the stereo. Along with McConaughey and Leto's performances, Jennifer Garner's performance as a doctor standing on the tightrope of bureaucracy and her hypocritical oath is stunning as is Griffin Dunne as a disbarred doctor trying to spread the word to Ron about the dangers of having high doses of AZT.

Dark, funny and moving, The Dallas Buyers Club is a movie that will leave you jeering and cheering for Ron Woodroof, an antihero trying to hold on to life by any means necessary