It’s still impressive how much Matthew McConaughey has rebuilt his image in the last few years. While always a talented actor who once often worked with Richard Linklater and Steven Spielberg, let’s just say that he developed a different reputation in the 2000s. But ever since projects like Lincoln Lawyer, Bernie, Tropic Thunder and now, most especially, this summer’s Mud, McConaughey has reminded people why he was a star in the first place.
As such, his new fall film, Dallas Buyers Club, looks like another ambitious reach as he plays real-life Texan cowboy Ron Woodroof, a smiling hustler who was hit with a hard dose of reality in 1985 when he was diagnosed with HIV and given only 30 days to live. In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, Woodroof found himself ostracized cut off and…smuggling very not-FDA approved drugs over the border from Mexico. Indeed, it is there that he establishes a “buyers’ club” for any and all who need foreign drugs for an assortment of ailments. It’s certainly enterprising.
Also starring Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto, this somber dramedy looks to walk a fine balance dealing with the HIV subject matter, as well as the basic concept of a former rodeo star crossing over the border in a priest's outfit. I suppose we'll see if it works when it opens on December 6.