Dallas Buyers Club : DVD Review



Title: Dallas Buyers Club
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn, Michael O’Neill
Release Date: 2 June 2014
Certificate: 15
Runtime: 117 minutes
Format: Blu-ray and DVD

BLU-RAY AND DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
• Deleted scenes
• ‘A Look Inside Dallas Buyers Club’


Winner of three Academy Awards, this critically acclaimed film shows that one man’s determination can change the lives of those around him as DALLAS BUYERS CLUB arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on 2 June 2014.

Dallas Buyers Club is the moving and poignant true-life story of one man who made a difference. Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof (McConaughey) lives life to the full, without a care until he is diagnosed as HIV-positive and given only one month to live. But Woodroof was a fighter and showing courage and determination he survived a good deal longer than predicted, along the way, saving the lives of others as he used his charms and talents to find and secure alternative treatments from outside of America, where the drugs he is able to find are not FDA tested and therefore illegal. He uses loopholes and his ‘buyers club’ to get drugs to the people that need them.

Dallas Buyers Club, is the sort of film that really grips from the outset and doesn’t let go until the very end. It’s full of career best performances. It’s storyline is uplifting and genuinely powerful but it doesn’t miss on comedy either with some laughs along the way. It’s touching but it’s also humorous and every film needs that balance of reality and humour. It covers many themes from homophobia and hatred to friendship and loyalty and charts the course of Woodroof’s changing attitudes and personality.

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are faultless in their performances, transforming themselves not just physically but in every other way to fit their roles, they didn’t simply act, they really became their characters.

Director Jean-Marc Vallée is not a director I’m familiar with, but he will be near the top of any list of potential directors for big films after Dallas Buyers Club. He manages his awarding winning cast brilliantly and adds verve and style to the mix. He handles directing a large cast, on an important film with assurance and skill.

Dallas Buyers Club comes highly recommended. It might just change your life, as it did Woodroof.

Author : Kevin Stanley