Dallas Buyers Club

A hard-partying electrician/rodeo cowboy discovers he has HIV and is given 30 days to live. In desperation, he crosses the border to Mexico to receive experimental medication not approved by the American FDA, and finds it works. He decides to cash in on his suffering and smuggle the drugs back into the US to sell to other people with HIV/AIDS.

Matthew McConaughey is transfixing as the scarily gaunt, drug-loving, boozed-up sleaze Ron Woodroof (based on a real-life man), who goes from being a homophobic, racist arsehole to eventually realising – only after experiencing harrowing circumstances first-hand, of course – that LGBTQI people are people too. Though this 'transformation' elicits more eye-rolling than tear-jerking, the growth of his friendship with business partner Rayon, a transgender woman played by Jared Leto (whose performance has garnered praise from critics, yet also condemnation from the trans* community) gives the film a necessary emotional push. On the flipside, it's clear that Rayon's character was created to represent and depict Woodroof's evolving empathy-meter. Similarly, Jennifer Garner's Dr Eve Saks acts mostly as a reluctant yes-woman.

Dallas Buyers Club is strongest when it tries to tell Woodroof's remarkable story straight. While it works as entertainment – balancing weighty topics with humour, sharp editing, action montages, colourful dialogue and McConaughey's charisma – if its aim is to push for more awareness for HIV/AIDS treatment (as the message “AIDS is not over. Access to treatment could save more lives.” after the credits suggests), reveal pharmaceutical company evils or showcase character development, then its impact is tenuous.