Important topic, but I just didn't care

Rating: 3/10 (4 March 2014)

When I first heard about this film, I didn't immediately want to see it, but after assurances from friends that it was very good, I decided to give it a watch. However, I was incredibly disappointed. The overall subject of the film is of course very important and widely overlooked by the mainstream film industry, but the portrayal by McConaughey made me not care about a condition that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. I understand that a character doesn't have to be inherently likable to make a good film, but when they don't have one redeeming quality, it is hard to find any sort of compassion for them. Knowing that the story is based on true events, it could be that McConaughey is simply playing a character very well and his portrayal could be spot on, but I felt no emotion towards him other than mild disgust for the entire film. He is rude, misogynistic, sexist, homophobic, selfish and greedy, and at no point seems to actually change any of these qualities. Yes he starts selling drugs to AIDS sufferers (including gay people) but only when he can make enough for a decent profit. The only times in the film when he is decent to someone are when he gets something out of it, making for a character that I could barely watch, let alone have sympathy for.
Jared Leto is the film's saving grace as Rayon (all three of the stars I am giving this film are for his performance), with an incredible performance deserving of his recent Oscar for best supporting actor, but once Rayon is out of the picture, the film becomes lifeless and boring, barely worth watching to the end.
As a side note, the film just barely passes the Bechdel test, depending entirely on whether you count Rayon as a woman or not. As Rayon is referred to all the way through the film as "he/him", not just by Ron, but his long time friend Eve, it does not, and as such contains a grand total of one fully established female character - hardly a diverse or balanced cast.