Not the Club for Cheerleaders or Rodeo Clowns

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2014)

9 of 10. While on the surface this is a film about AIDS, it goes way beyond it into government corruption at the FDA. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto do their best to replicate and go beyond Christian Bale's body reduction to skin and bone in The Machinist and The Fighter. While Matthew retains recognizability, I needed the credits to verify who Jared played.
As deserving as the lead actors are of recognition, the story and supporting characters prevent the film from becoming a simple Oscar melodrama to feature actors in a tear jerking story. The actors playing the corrupted corporate stooges at the FDA, DEA, hospitals, and in court are essential to giving the film depth and intensity. The characters are complex too. It's not often you get a bull riding rodeo fan, oil rig working tough guy Texan who is also an electrician addicted to gambling, drugs, and "pussy".
Set in the mid to late 1980s while drugs/procedures were still in the exploratory phase for AIDS, it has a lot more to say about how drugs are approved and prescribed than any other non-documentary film that's ever been made.
Addendum: A thank you to Tony Heck for reminding me of Puncture (2011), even if his review is short sighted and tedious. Puncture is another great, fact-based film involving needles, drugs, and AIDS. It takes more of a legal focus and lacks the acting and action of DBC, but does indeed have a better overall story. Getting into an argument, however, over which of the 2 is better is really only relevant for long winded critics who are ignoring they are enjoying 2 of the best films ever made.