Dallas Buyers Club review

This movie is about people slowly dying from the horrible disease of AIDS. And I thought my cold was bad!

Dallas Buyers Club is the story of a homophobic electrician from Texas, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), who gets diagnosed with HIV. He starts selling medicine to make some extra cash, but soon he starts doing it just to help people. At first glance this seems like a guilt trip of a film designed to get showered with awards and make you feel all sorts of emotions. It looks formulaic and cheesy. Heck even it's tagline, "Dare to Live", sounds corny as hell. And while Dallas Buyers Club does occasionally do some of the things mentioned, in the end it is a solid and very well acted flick that I can certainly recommend. The film is based on a true story, but it still has room to add a little extra drama and conflict. And at times it does get overly dramatic. With other actors, this could turn into a sob-fest worthy of a Lifetime TV movie. Yet, with McConaughey and  (surprisingly)  Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club becomes really good. Matthew McConaughey's transformation into an emaciated AIDS patient is nothing compared to his transformation as an actor. From annoying rom-com dude to serious and respectable Golden Globe winner, I don't think any of us saw this coming. I've said it before, as has everyone else, and I'll say it again. Just a few short years ago McConaughey was starring in such "movies" as Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Failure to Launch, and Fool's Gold. Now he's in stuff like Mud, True Detective, and The Wolf of Wall Street. And you can add this to his list of good films with good performances. The guy kills it here. Not only did he lose a massive amount of weight for the role, but he really shows the pain,hate, and emotion in his character quite well. And although he carries most of the film on his shoulders, he isn't alone. Musician and occasional actor Jared Leto is in this movie. And he is really, really good in it. I don't know where his talent came from but damn is he fantastic in his role as a transsexual woman named Rayon. It's no wonder they both won acting awards at Sundays Globes. I'm not sure if McConaughey has secured an Oscar win yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if Leto has. Even if you're skeptical about the film as I once was, see it at least for the performances.  Don't get me wrong though, the acting isn't the only strong point here. The other parts of the film aren't all bad. While I did find the script a tad cliche at times, the direction and overall feel of the movie was really good. I haven't heard of the director of this before, but he did a pretty good job here. The film has this feel of being slightly old, fitting of it's time period, yet it doesn't overdo it as to distract us. The close ups and quiet, prolonged shots of the characters in pain help really highlight the superb acting here and put us in the character's shoes. Even if it is only for 117 minutes. While the script is sometimes mediocre, it still manages to capture the raw emotion and courage of this true story. You feel the pain of these poor, sick people. When a character dies, you can't help but get teary eyed. The catharsis here here is astounding. Aw damn, now I'm starting to sound corny. Dallas Buyers Club is quite good, mostly because of it's top notch performances, but it's still good. Had I seen this earlier it certainly would have made my Top 15 of 2013 list. While it's sometimes overly dramatic, Dallas Buyers Club is mostly very good and especially well acted. I just hope McConaughey keeps up this streak of being awesome in awesome movies. I give Dallas Buyers Club 4.2 out of 5 stars! Happy Viewing y'all! Remember to follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies.