Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn
Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity and drug use.
Currently available for rental at most retailers and online streaming services.
Nominated for 6 Academy Awards
Best Picture
Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey)
Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto)
Best Writing- Original Screenplay
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Film Editing
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is a good movie, but it's mostly made up of some really good parts without being quite as good as a whole. While I found the synopsis intriguing, and it actually made me very excited to see the film once I knew what it was about, it's probably the least interesting of this year's Best Picture nominees (not including to date, PHILOMENA and NEBRASKA, whic I've not yet seen).
Based on a true story, it's about electrician/rodeo enthusiast Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), living in Dallas in 1985 and a homophobe who openly expresses his disgust for gay persons. He also happens to have a penchant for one-time sexual encounters with strange partners, this being some time before common knowledge spread that the AIDS virus, the "Gay Cancer", was not exclusive to persons who had had homosexual relations. Suffering from dizzy spells and even blacking out, Ron wakes up in the hospital after an incident, where he is told by the doctors that he has AIDS, with an estimated 30 days left to live. The new drug AZT is only one thus far approved by the FDA for human testing to counteract the effects of AIDS, at least temporarily, but with it only in the testing stage, Ron obtains it illegally, but it appears to have a more negative effect than good. When he's given legal but unapproved substances to treat the virus and they appear to have a far more beneficial effect than AZT, he begins smuggling the substances into the States, where they are legal for his personal use, but not to sell. Still resolved to make a profit, Ron starts the "Dallas Buyers Club", through which other HIV and AIDS victims can obtain the drugs for "free" with purchase of a $400 membership. In spite of his anti-gay sentiments, Ron realizes that it's more lucrative for him to team up with Rayon (Jared Leto), an HIV-positive transgender woman, who has the connections inside the gay community where the majority of Ron's clients come from. But while attempting to treat himself and others, while making a profit on the side, Ron is legally bombarded by the FDA and AZT manufacturers, as well as any health care professionals who stand to make a profit.
The main point of DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is Matthew McConaughey's performance as Ron Woodroof, for which he is a top contender for the Best Actor prize. It's been a bit of a passion project for McConaughey since 2008, when he first signed on to star in the film, but even the minimalist $5 million budget to produce the film remained elusive until 2012, when the film was shot in a miniscule 25 days. Prior to McConaughey's involvement, the script had been around since the mid-1990s, soon after Woodroof's death in 1992, and had gone through attempts to produce it with actors such as Woody Harrelson, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling.
Up until the past couple years, McConaughey has been known for headlining bottom-of-the-barrel romantic comedies that catered to the least demanding of teen female demographic, such as HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS (2003), FAILURE TO LAUNCH (2006) and GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST (2009) (roles which McConaughey has described affectionately as "Saturday characters", which loosely translates to "leading roles in incredibly awful movies") and even an ultra-dull Indiana Jones wannabe, SAHARA (2005). However against all odds, the McConaughey who first made his name in independent films directed by Richard Linklater and some extra-ambitious big-budget films, like CONTACT and AMISTAD, has come back with a vengeance, a comeback that has been dubbed, "the McConaissance" (like renaissance).
It seems to have first started in 2011 when he starred as the titular character in the book adaptation THE LINCOLN LAWYER, quickly followed up in the same year in a supporting role as a comical district attorney in Richard Linklater's BERNIE, and then, in the same summer, as the menacing pervert of a titular character in William Friedkin's KILLER JOE. In Summer 2012, McConaughey then stole the show as the proprietor of a male strip joint in Steven Soderbergh's MAGIC MIKE and earned further acclaim this past summer as the titular character in MUD. In addition to DALLAS BUYER'S CLUB, McConaughey also filled out 2013 with a brief but very memorable performance in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, which featured him very prominently in the marketing. He's gone from being the representative of shallow, loathsome romantic comedies that give the genre a bad name to being one of the top and most exciting acting talents in the film industry.
So while his Academy Award potential is very high, with an undoubted edge after winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, the question is whether it's based on the actual merits of this performance or if it's more of a "comeback" award. Despite the strengths of his performance, it appears to be the latter, considering the strength of the competition (and one of my favorite performances of last year, Tom Hanks in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, wasn't even nominated), and he wasn't nominated for his even better performance in KILLER JOE in 2011. However, if he did win, it wouldn't be such a great injustice, nor if he lost for that matter. I'm skeptical that this particular performance deserves it though.
As a Best Picture candidate, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is an honorary presence, with practically no chance of winning the big prize, without a Best Director nomination to solidify its presence, nor the hype that propelled ARGO to the win without a Best Director nomination last year. It's the sort of film that the Academy just can't pass up, given its importance of subject matter and moral complexity, but it's not especially noteworthy in terms of filmmaking or audience appeal. Furthermore, Jean-Marc Vallee's direction is barely standard, and sometime disjointed, casting a pall on the film as a whole (the editing is partially to blame for the disjointedness, which makes its Best Editing nomination feel undeserved).
While I'm reluctant to discount the competition in the category, Jared Leto's performance as Rayon is highly deserving of the Best Supporting Actor award, for which he is the frontrunner by a significant margin. As Rayon, a role into which he properly transforms, Leto is the comedy, tragedy and heart of the film, in a role that could have easily been cloying or simple awards bait.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is the most Oscar-y of this year's major nominees, and as far as the ones I've seen so far (I'm still short two of the Best Picture nominees), it's the most disappointing, but it's proven well that it can't be underestimated. I predict it will win Best Actor (McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Leto) and Best Makeup & Hairstyling.
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| Jared Leto as "Rayon", on the left, and Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof, on the right. |
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