Dallas Buyers Club

Grade: B

Dallas Buyers Club is a powerful, gritty film based on the true story of a good-ole-boy homophobe (Ron Woodroof) who is told, while being treated for a work-related injury, that he is HIV positive (due to his drug-and-sex-filled lifestyle), and has 30 days to live if he’s lucky. Woodroof assumes that you can only get AIDS from homosexual acts, so he goes into deep denial and scoffs at this. He yells about how he isn’t “one of them,” and uses terms I’d rather not print here. I hope I don’t give too much away by saying he lives well past the thirty days, and devotes his life to using less-than-legal methods to make sure he – and more importantly, other AIDS patients – get the medication they need. What warmed my heart most about the movie was Woodroof’s gradual and subtle adoption of tolerance for the gay community. Along the way, he ends up with a most-unlikely friend and business partner – a transvestite, marvelously played by Jared Leto. I learned that Leto’s character was just a composite of several different people from real life, but I thought blending them into one was a smart play. Finally, carrying the story is Matthew McConaughey in the leading role, giving – probably – the performance of his career. It is, admittedly, an impressive transformation. I’m sure he will win the Oscar. After all, he lost a lot of weight for the role. Grade: B