Before Matthew McConaughey traveled through space and time in Interstellar, the movie breaking IMAX records ten years after it was first released, he delivered a career-defining performance in Dallas Buyers Club – a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor and solidified his place among the Hollywood elite. And if you haven't seen it, the good news is that the 2013 awards darling, which boasts a stellar 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, is coming to Netflix this January, giving audiences a chance to revisit one of the most transformative performances in recent memory.
Directed by the late Jean-Marc Vallée (Big Little Lies), Dallas Buyers Club tells the powerful true story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician and rodeo lover who is diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s. Although he's only given a month to live, he fights back and refuses to accept his fate by smuggling unapproved but extremely effective treatments into the U.S. With help from an unlikely source in the shape of Rayon (Jared Leto), a transgender woman and fellow HIV patient, Woodroof establishes a “buyers club” to distribute these alternative treatments to others suffering from the disease. McConaughey and Leto's performances were acclaimed by critics and the movie ended up winning the Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in 2014.
Is 'Dallas Buyers Club' Worth Watching?
Well, the awards and the Rotten Tomatoes score should tell you the answer, but what's more, Collider's review also lavished praise on it, hailing the performances of the leading men:
McConaughey is magnificent, and it’s not a matter of how much weight he lost to play the role. The cocksure performance we’ve come expect from McConaughey is on display, but with Ron, it’s not something done to charm the audience. It’s a way for the character to hold on to who he is, and not be defined by his disease. Even if he can’t keep having sex, he doesn’t have to stop acting like a ladies’ man.
And yet it would lose some of its power without Leto. Rayon is the counterbalance not only to Ron’s personality, but also to the film’s themes. Ron becomes a better person because of Rayon, but not vice versa. Rayon shows that getting a new lease on life doesn’t mean that life will become better. Leto is astounding not only by showing both the pain and joy in his complex character, but in his chemistry with McConaughey.
Dallas Buyers Club arrives on Netflix on January 1.
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In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.
Image via Focus Features
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