Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Every bureaucrat in Dallas Buyers Club comes with a lanyard and a sneer, and it’s the one lazy thing in a film that otherwise refuses to look away. Matthew McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof as a rodeo hustler who gets a diagnosis that’s supposed to end him and decides to out-hustle it instead. He’s gaunt, loud, funny and stubborn, and the film doesn’t sand off his rough edges to make you like him faster. Jared Leto’s Rayon is the heart of it, sharp and warm and tired, and the slow friendship between the two of them is where the real story lives. Jennifer Garner’s doctor feels like she wandered in from a gentler movie. It was made on a reported $5 million and it looks scrappy in a way that fits. An 8.0 because the performances carry a real piece of history with the weight it deserves. $826 says you finish it and spend the rest of the night reading about the real Ron Woodroof.

What works: Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give fearless, physical performances, and the friendship between Ron and Rayon is the heart of the film.

What doesn’t: The FDA, the hospital and the drug company are flat villains, and Jennifer Garner’s role feels thin next to the leads.

Who it’s for: Viewers who want a true story about the early AIDS years with a rough, funny, stubborn hero at the center.