Review of Dallas Buyers Club (2013) by Thegodfatherson — 01 Nov 2013

Though it may be a story of sickness and death, "Dallas Buyers Club" is about the rebirth of a homophobe. Suddenly an outcast among his heterosexual friends, Woodroof reluctantly warms to a new community particularly a drug-addicted transsexual named Rayon who becomes his business partner.

Rayon is played by an earnestly committed Jared Leto who nevertheless comes off as a theatrical drag queen cliche. They run the buyers club together out of a cheap motel, the unlikeliest pair of Bonnie and Clyde renegades yet.

Quebec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee ("The Young Victoria") directs "Dallas Buyers Club" with a loose naturalism, seedy environs and lively humour that prevents the film from becoming over-sentimentalized.

It's a true story long in the making (screenplay by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack) based on Woodroof's remarkable late life. But what "Dallas Buyers Club" is, ultimately, is the apotheosis of another transformation: McConaughey's great U-turn.

A few years after sinking into rote romantic comedies, "Dallas Buyers Club" tops an astonishing streak for the 43-year-old that has included "Mud," Bernie". He lost more than 40 pounds for the role (Leto, too, is startlingly thin), and appears so gaunt as to wipe away any memory of his rosier, more superficial performances.

Extreme weight loss, too, can be a superficial ploy, but McConaughey inhabits the clamouring, clawing Woodroof, whose zest for life (which McConaughey has always exuded) flourishes with the meaning of a moral cause.

He stomps down hospital hallways in cowboy boots, a foul-mouthed champion against the system, spouting obscenities in a Texas drawl. In one late scene that could be either Woodroof or McConaughey, he looks in the mirror, and smiles.