Review of Dallas Buyers Club (2013) by Adam K — 28 Dec 2014

McConaughey is always great and fun to watch, and the first part of this movie is good insofar as it's just him developing a character. But as it hits the meat of the plot, Woodroof's character development seems to take a back-seat to some melodrama and a historical drama that really feels like an adaptation of a pop nonfiction book.

He has not so much an arc as a complete about-face, and most of the movie barely seems to remember the man Woodroof once was. It certainly maintains a greater sense of cinematic artistry and high caliber character acting than 95% of its ilk, but it still of feels somewhat hobbled by self-consciousness of the gravity and emotion of its subject matter.