not-great film rescued by performance

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2013)

I personally couldn't get past what MM had done to himself for this role. His acting was superb, but the realism of his weight loss was a distraction rather than a contribution. And the film is an unremitting bummer, not that I insist on happy endings but...Jeez!
ON THE OTHER HAND -- Jared Leto does the best job of a man actually BEING a woman I've ever seen. So much that he's like the essence of woman, an archetype that shows us how different we are. Down to the last nuance, he nails it. And makes us feel it. A truly magnificent portrayal.
I'm supposed to put in ten lines of text or IMDb won't publish my review, so let me once again make myself perfectly clear -- watching Matthew McConaughey is torture -- watching Jared Leto is moving, unforgettable.