Voltage Pictures, Truth Entertainment (II),
Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn, Griffin Dunne, Michael O’Neill, Dallas Roberts, Kevin Rankin
Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConnaughey) is a hard living, heavy drinking, drug using part time electrician and part time rodeo clown. He lives life hard and fast. He’s very homophobic and when his doctor tells him he is suffering from aids and has only 6 months to live, he gets really mad. I should say this is in 1987 and aids was pretty much a death sentence in those days. While in the hospital with a very unusual roommate Rayon (Jared Leto) Ron accepts the fact that he is really very sick, and starts researching the disease. When he finds out that AZT is being used to treat the disease, but AZT is illegal in the US, Ron sets out to get the medicine for himself and Rayon at any price, even if it means becoming an outlaw. This film is based on a true story.
This film garnered lots and lots of awards this season. Many people think this is Matthew McConnaughey’s best work ever. I was not highly impressed with this film. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really enjoy the characters. That’s not really anybody’s fault, I suppose, because of the fact that it’s a true story. When you’re playing a real person, I guess you have to play that person. But I don’t think any of the people in this film are people I would really care much about. It was interesting that Matthew McConnaughy lost a TON of weight to look like a raggedy aids patient. That was pure dedication, and I hope there are no long term effects from that. But I just didn’t get invested in the story that much. I appreciated what he went through and what he did, but he was a rather shady guy to begin with, and you can’t help but have the feeling that he kind of deserved what he got after all. There was probably a little extra embellishment to, or poetic license, if you will. I suspect it wasn’t as exciting as the story made it appear, but I suppose that is to be expected too. All in all, I found it a little flat and was just not blown away with the story or the acting, and I just didn’t care for the characters. This is not a pleasant story, so don’t pick this if you’re expecting an uplifting and heart-warming story. It’s certainly not that. In fact, when it was over I didn’t really care much about it, and just sort of shrugged and though, “Gee, that wasn’t worth the effort.” At least it was a rental.
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