User Reviews

In 1985, in Dallas, the homophobic electrician and rodeo rider Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is a smoker and cocaine and alcohol user that frequently has sex with hookers and promiscuous women. When he faints in his trailer, he is sent to the hospital where Dr. Sevard (Denis O'Hare) and Dr. Eve (Jennifer Garner) tell him that he is HIV+ and will die within thirty days. Ron also meets the travesty Rayon (Jared Leto) that is drug addicted that also has the disease.

Ron does not accept the diagnosis since he is not homosexual but a couple of days later he realizes that the diagnosis may be accurate. He researches about the disease and learns that AZT might be lethal for infected people. Further, he discovers that in Mexico there is a doctor with revoked license named Vass (Griffin Dunne) that uses alternative drugs in the treatment of AIDS. Ron improves his healthy and decides to sell the drugs in Dallas. He makes a partnership with Rayon and soon he creates the Dallas Buyers Club, where the memberships pay four hundred dollars per month to have the necessary drugs. But the FDA does not accept his research and he is oppressed by the authorities.

"Dallas Buyers Club" is a great movie based on the true story of a terminal man infected by HIV+ that fights against the system to prolong his and his clients' lives using drugs not accepted by the FDA. Matthew McConaughey deserves his Oscar and it is impossible to recognize Jared Leto, also awarded with an Oscar. The story also denounces the participation of the pharmaceutical industry and doctors in the United States of America using unethical procedures to test and sell their drugs. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Clube de Compras Dallas" ("Dallas Buyers Club")

Since before the start of the new millennium until just after 2010, Matthew McConaughey's body of work was just that, a body that worked well on the screen for so many of the aimless, brainless onslaught of romantic/comedy disasters, in which he played the lead. In 1996, McConaughey played Jake Tyler Brigance in Joel Schumacher's A Time To Kill. Hailed as the best performance of his career, it seemed like, critically, that was the closest the actor would get to any praise. In 2011, McConaughey took the lead in Brad Furman's The Lincoln Lawyer, a by-the-number crime/mystery, where, McConaughey was able to flex some of his acting muscles as opposed to abdomen muscles. Since then, in what has been the most sudden and misunderstood acting turn in recent memory, McConaughey has reinvented his career and is continuing to be casted as a serious actor with serious acting skills. While the Texan acting inspiration has remolded his career in a time span that puts to shame that of Downey Jr. and Travolta, one of McConaughey's unflinching signature acting staples is his bold and proud Texan accent. And while I can't really imagine how a cowboy like himself was cast in Christopher Nolan's upcoming science fiction Interstellar, McConaughey and his accent were surely a match made in heaven for his role as the slowly weathering and dying HIV/AIDS patient Ron Woodruff. For Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey and his accent worked exceptionally well. Quebecois director Jean-Marc Vallee helms McConaughey as Ron Woodruff; a rugged, homophobic, ultra- macho, bull-riding, money throwing, playboy with no accord to anyone. Woodruff, a money hustling, chance taking electrician juggles his fortune, his luck, his women, and his job to make ends meet and live a somewhat fulfilling life. It isn't until an unexpected accident at work that leaves Woodruff hospitalized, giving him no choice but to make a difference in his life and the lives of many others. Upon learning of his recent HIV positive diagnostics and short thirty day life expectancy time span, Woodruff, reluctant to die, uses his hustling, smooth-talking, greasing ways to secure him a new, untested medicine to prolong the spread of HIV, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved AZT. After consuming an uncontrolled amount of AZT, the only legal drug that was available at the time in the United States, all the while, still abusing his substances, Woodruff has a close encounter with death. Coming to the morbid realization that the ATZ was depleting his longevity, he enlists the help of a disgraced doctor (Griffin Dunne) and together bring unapproved anti-viral treatments to the U.S illegally. What starts off as a simple economic money tapping market venture, Woodruff, along the way, comes to the realization that his efforts to help others, are actually working. Enlisting the help of fellow HID/AIDS victim Rayon (Jared Leto), the two start the Dallas Buyers Club, an alternative treatment centre for paying members that pits Woodruff in a gestating face-to-face with the FDA and other pharmaceutical companies. As the clientele grows thanks to Rayon's introduction to the biggest HIV/AIDS demographic, homosexuals, Woodruff has a revelation that not only changes his opinion of gays but also is a deep and dark look of sexual discrimination in the south of the U.S in the 1980′s. Dallas Buyers Club is a film dependent on the skills of its actors physical and mental performances. Aside from McConaughey's drastic forty pound weight loss, supporting actor Jared Leto dropped a hefty amount of weight to play the utterly convincing transsexual Rayon. Veering far away from Christian Bale comparisons in his eerie and grotesque turn as Trevor Reznik in Brad Anderson 2004′s indie The Machinist, the two leads in the Dallas Buyers Club abandon physical spectacle in exchange for allowing their on-screen presence to give a candid, historical accuracy of HIV/AIDS patients, and the brutal struggle they faced against a deadly and unforgiving epidemic in the United States in the 1980′s. Dallas Buyers Club is McConaughey's best role yet. Fierce, trashy and edifying, the actor substitutes humility for profanity, glamour for wretchedness, and the light-hearted for the heavy and unapologetic. Finally, McConaughey joins a club of actors that he should be proud to be a part of. Although the year's lead actor category is going to be a full one at this year's Academy Awards, the Supporting Actor category will have a clear winner. Unrecognizable, subtle and submerged into the role, their is no deny or ignoring the raw talent Leto brings to the role of Rayon. His previous efforts as a dedicated method actor, either gaining a large amount of weight or shedding weight with a wink of an eye, Leto's dedication to the craft is showcased in Dallas Buyers Club, and will surely be rewarded. Dallas Buyers Club is a morally, heavy-hitting drama with lasting effects. Dramatizing the social discrimination of gays in the South of the United States and the condition of many low-income, trailer-park living American residents, the film raises the questions whether or not AIDS/HIVS and other fatal diseases are fairly treated within government fine print and whether the main goal of such large and powerful companies is wealth, or health. Gritty, raw and compelling, Dallas Buyers Club is a powerfully dramatic based on a true story. Woodruff was a simple man, whose unfortunate condition brought forth an incredible man who's zest for life inspires others. Ron Woodruff definitely rode the bull in life; challenging the powerful FDA, pharmaceutical companies and notions that were instilled in his since birth. Thankfully for us, Vallee, McConaughey and Leto ride the film into a place in our hearts, in an overly sexualized, passionate display of what it's like to die "with your boots on"; dirty, gritty and with a fighting chance.

Inspired by actual events, "Dallas Buyers Club" focuses on the dying years of a Dallas hustler who goes out of his way to face up against the FDA to help AIDS patients get the treatments they need to reduce the suffering after discovering that he himself has this unfortunate disease.

Ron Woodroof (1950-1992)(Matthew McConaughey) is a part-time electrician and a part-time rodeo entertainer who lives in Dallas, Texas. One day he gets admitted to the hospital on account of a work incident, Mr. Woodroof's hospital admittance becomes more serious than he has expected. The doctors discover that Woodroof has AIDS. Though he's not an excessive needle pusher or a homosexual, he refuses to believe that he has what he believes to be a "gay disease". But the tests he receives confirm that he has AIDS and according to his doctor Dr. Sevard (Denis O'Hare) that he has only one month to live.

With life hanging on by a string, Woodroof confiscates the experimental drug AZT as a way to stall the illness from getting worse. And when he finally runs out, he ventures off to Mexico in search for other antidotes. What shocks him is that AZT is a poisonous substance and that if AIDS won't kill him, AZT will, but he finds a concoction that will do the trick. A victim of his own selfish purposes to make a profit, but with the assistance of a transvestite named Rayon (Jared Leto, his clientele begins to expand. The larger his client based, the more homophobic and narrow-minded he becomes.

If he thought he could keep this operation running any longer, well reality starts to come into play. It isn't before very long that the FDA would storm on and repossess his antidotes and warns him that he will be arrested on account of trafficking. Therefore, with that in mind Woodroof establishes a subscription-only-conglomerate known in which he calls "The Dallas Buyers Club" where he's not officially selling drugs, but memberships. Woodroof embodies the AIDS community that these remedies actually works. And even though he's a gay-bashing jerk of an individual, but his cause is actually helping those he truly despises. Meanwhile the FDA whose payroll comes from the major pharmaceuticals, these corporate shrills are unintentionally killing them. Rod decides his destiny is to bring down the FDA and ensure that he's doing it for the sake of a cause.

Matthew McConaughey has really outdid himself here, by sacrificing his own physicality to lose a substantial amount of weight to turn away from his usual boy-toy personae making him almost unrecognizable. On a mental note, famous for his lovable romantic characters to play a rather crude, narrow-minded homophobic despot. But still, in spite of his flaws, we still love the man for what he's doing and we love McConaughey because he makes this character believable and truly deserves the accolades that was given to him.

Jared Leto also looks unrecognizable under all that makeup and dresses to play Woodroof's assistant Rayon. Leto avoids the silly humour like a he's going to a costume party to play a very sympathetic and endearing character. Jennifer Garner has the more complex initiative as the morally inclined Dr. Eve Saks, but she still manages to pull it off flawlessly. The supporting players are equally poignant with Denis O'Hare as the corporate siding physician Dr. Sevard and Steve Zahn as Woodroof's cop buddy, Tucker.

The wonderful script by Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack is saturated in character development. And even though the characters have their share of strengths and flaws, it scores high points in effectiveness and believability. The ingredient that makes this film very effective comes in terms of the relationships within the characters and that we were able to understand a complex character who's quite unlikable but still manages to hold a place in our hearts. Borten and Wallack succeed in avoiding overly done sentimentality and succeeds in keeping it standard which might seem dull to some viewers.

Director Jean-Marc Vallee give this cinematic project a documentary feeling to it. It's never flashy and the story is executed as all the events are transpiring before our very eyes. We see no sympathy within the characters as no one's sugarcoated and that harder truths come uncompromising. It's not pretty, but straight to the point and leaves no stone unturned. It's not always pleasant, but life was never meant to be fair. And even though the production value lacks in connection, the style of storytelling makes this movie significant.

When coming to see this movie, brace yourselves for two hours of engaging characters, who lack moral vibes while defending themselves against corporate shrills for the sake of a good cause. The movie depends on a motivating script intense performances and the realism involved. It won't change your life, but it will make you ponder who our government really cares for.

Dallas Buyer Club is a great American biographical drama film! Co-written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. Set in the 1980s, the movie tells the story of a real-life AIDS patient, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) who smuggled unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas for treating his symptoms and distributed them to fellow people with AIDS. Fighting against the orders of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ron must try to manage his 'Dallas Buyers Club" while facing the opposition from the government agency that originally sent out to protect him. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, while the movie is based on true events, it's also highly fictional. A good example of this, is the supporting characters of Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), and Ron's transgender friend, Rayon (Jared Leto). Both were composite roles created from the writer's interviews with transgender AIDS patients, activists, and doctors. While, some critics might see these examples of artistic license as offensive, due those whom resent the reinterpretation of real event historical events; I saw it as a huge colleague improvement. After all, both Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto did very well in their roles. Jared Leto even won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in his accurate depiction of a fictional transwoman with HIV who helps Woodroof. To portray his role, Leto lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body to look the part. Nevertheless, it wasn't as extreme, as Matthew McConaughey had to go, through, as Ron Woodroof. McConaughey lost nearly 50 pounds, just to play the role in the film. The severity of the weight loss for these actors is getting way too dangerous. I can see McConaughey having problems, later in his life, because of this. Despite that, he was amazing in this movie. Kinda glad, he won Best Actor for this movie. However, while Woodroof was known for peculiar eccentric behavior, according to those who knew him; both the film and McConaughey made him rougher than he actually was, with all the rampantly homophobic. Due to this, a lot of critics, believe that the portrayal of Woodroof in the beginning of the film, was very inaccurate and somewhat offensive, when many saw him, as a man that didn't harbor anti-gay sentiments and was himself bisexual. While, many of these real-life accounts are indeed mixed. Here is some truth about the guy. The real-life man did do hard drugs, and had a lot of sex, but also he was a family man, unlike the one, we saw in this film. I kinda do, hate the fact, that the movie cut this fact off from the story, because in my opinion, his ex-wives, family members and a daughter could help, push the character study, along, its character development. Despite all that, I do love, how the movie makes the main character transforms from a rotten person to a heroic one. Yes, he starts out as a homophobic, bigoted, promiscuous drug user, but he become very likable, over the course of the story, when he learns to take care of himself, eat healthy, and learns to appreciate and love others regardless of who they are. This is better than most tragic movies, are willing to give us. While, the movie's ending is bittersweet. I love the anti-corporate message demonstrated through drug companies' heartless action. It's true about what Woodroof says about the FDA. A good example of this, is the dangers of AZT when use to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. While, it's true that high doses of this drug is indeed toxic, it's also true, that AZT has worked for many patients at an appropriate dose. The use of AZT as a way to treat HIV/AIDS is still a highly target controversial, medical debate, even today. Just note that the drug does somewhat work, in small doses. Another good thing about this film is allowing the audience, in rethinking their apparent anti-gay sentiments. It indeed, changed a lot of opinions of straight people had on gay people. It also introduce mainstream audiences, to a realistic portrayal of transgender, outside of Comedy or Indies films. I love, how this movie was filmed. Lots of symbolism with the idea of riding the bull, sequences. Loves all the close up, and bait and switch camera movements as well. However, there were some historic inaccurate with some of the sets and props in this film. It's funny, noticing somethings in the background that clearly wasn't there in the 1980s. Overall: the diagnosis for this rodeo of movie has fine performances which are the highlights of Dallas Buyers Club, but you don't want to go believing too much of its history. The movie takes many shortcuts, compressing and compacting its story that it's hard to tell, which sequences are fiction and which are the truth. In the end, it's best for you to watch it, and judge yourself. I do recommended it.

Quite the performance from McCona however you spell his name. As a story, it's told in a very compelling way.

So much of the film is fiction though, and conspiracy nonsense. There was no effort to keep these "drugs" away from AIDS sufferers. The cures the film touts were pure snake oil, actually making the patient die sooner.

And in real life the main character was bisexual with partners from both genders. They made him into a bigoted country boy to make him more sympathetic to an audience that might blame him for his own death from having multiple partners.

Enjoy as a good film, but don't think this is real when it isn't.

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (2013) ***1/2 Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts, Kevin Rankin, Griffin Dunne, Michael O'Neill. McConaughey gives an Oscar-worthy performance of complex strength and a certain shabby nobility as Ron Woodruff, a rough-and-tumble Texas good ol' boy whose sudden diagnosis of contracting HIV and given a death sentence instead galvanizes the pig-headed, homophobic rodeo cowboy a chance at redemption by sticking to his guns, digging in his heels and serving up an ad-hoc business selling memberships to those similarly afflicted for non-FDA approved drugs. While Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack's screenplay serves the subject all- too familiarly from one-note borderline redneck to patron saint somewhere in between it is the clear eyes direction by Jean-Marc Vallee and his star's amazing acting skills in making an unlikable reprobate something we all recognize: all too human in an unjust world. Leto is equally remarkable as a transvestite homosexual who become Woodroof's aide-de-camp and best friend in the process while Garner's green doctor balances out as a medical professional learning the knotty ropes of big pharma tactics. McConaughey lost a reported nearly 40 pounds to give his skeletal appearance the verisimilitude necessary but make no mistake he delivers the goods, warts an all with a sense of dark humor and self-worth. JKL - Just Keep Livin' ; indeed