Dallas Buyers Club: The Should, the Could and the Empty (Film Snob #3)

The year is 1985. AIDS is still a dangerous disease that we don’t fully understand.

The common public of Texas considers its victims to be solely homosexual males. Ron Woodroof happens to be a man’s man, sleeping with a different woman every night, sometimes more than one. He has friends, a job, and even a nice bookie side-gig going on.

While working his job as an electrician, he gets shocked, sending him to the hospital. After running some blood tests, Ron learns that he has contracted HIV and is expected to die within 30 days. With no drugs available yet to help him cope with his disease, the doctors advise him to visit a support group and get his affairs in order. To which he responds: “Let me give y'all a little news flash. There ain't nothin' out there can kill Ron Woodroof in 30 days!”

This story follows a desperate man who must not only find the medication that he needs, whether it be FDA-approved or not, but must battle daily against a society that has cast him aside. His old “friends” refuse to touch him, call him a faggot, and otherwise deface his public property with similar slander. Matthew McConaughey portrays this distraught man as he fights against the FDA to medicate himself for a lethal disease while they push another drug, AZT, that has not been properly tested and can actually make patients worse. This movie shows the corruption of the medicinal side of our government while simultaneously exposing the hideous nature that our people can take when dealing with homosexuality.

Both McConaughey and Jared Leto play absolutely brilliant roles here, well-deserving of their two Oscars (for Best Leading and Supporting Actor, respectively). McConaughey gives us a man who is unwilling to simply give up and die, and who transforms from a homophobic, money-hungry bigot to a charitable, welcoming advocate of all AIDS victims. His “Dallas Buyers Club” sells memberships to people, so that they have unlimited access to the drugs that he gets from across borders, albeit prescription drugs that are not entirely illegal. What starts out as a profit-scouring venture later becomes the funding needed for Ron to keep both himself and his people alive while the government locks down and removes all of their options.

But Leto deserves every bit of praise that has been heaped upon him over the last few months. He gives us a complicated and friendly crossdresser named Rayon, who first meets Ron in the hospital. The very first scene that he is in makes sure to break your boundaries immediately, catching you offguard with his friendliness and relative normality. He invites Ron to play cards to pass the time (and kicks his butt), then has to rub Ron’s leg in a hilarious cramping scene. But when they meet again, Rayon offers to help with sales to other homosexuals for a partial partnership, to which Ron begrudgingly accepts. And thus begins one of my favorite friendships in a film in a long time. Ron’s proximity to Rayon changes him, showing him that sexual orientation does not dehumanize people or make them subhuman, like he would have believed. My favorite part of this movie involves him defending Rayon from a former friend of his, and shows how much he has come to care for Rayon. But Jared Leto turned in a performance that melts your heart and creates an extremely memorable character like no other that I have seen before, and doubt that I will ever see again. I would compare his supporting role to that of Heath Ledger’s Joker: legendary and impossible to imitate.

There are so many other factors that make this an excellent film, which include the story and themes, as well as how frightening its similarities to modern day life can be. Another central theme to this film is how cruel the FDA can be when they have their own profits at stake, playing with the lives of trusting citizens. But I will insert a disclaimer right here: there is cussing (for those sensitive to that sort of thing), there are a handful of instances of exposed cleavage (one minor sex scene and a couple of strippers), and of course, eroticism of a different nature when Rayon and Ron go into a gay bar (nothing over the top). If you can see past this nature, which serves to compare both of their polarizing lifestyles, you will definitely enjoy this film and the fantastic performances by McConaughey and Leto within.

Verdict: You SHOULD see this film, even if you are uncomfortable with some of the themes. They just might show you another point-of-view of a more moderate nature than you expect.

P.S. - I recommend renting this film on Redbox right now, but it is still playing in a handful of theaters still and can be purchased already, if you care to.