Over the past few years, Matthew McConaughey has slowly transitioned from rom-com specialist to actor extraordinaire. His roles, ranging from the mesmerizing lead in The Lincoln Lawyer to the highlight of the severely underrated Mud, have been riveting to watch to say the very least. With upcoming releases including the latest films from Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan, it’s obvious that he has no plans to stop dazzling audiences anytime soon. Amazingly, though, I think he may have given the performance of his career in Dallas Buyers Club, a film that not only gives McConaughey time to shine, but also contains a phenomenal performance from Jared Leto and a splendid script.

Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey) is a reckless, bigoted Southern fellow whose entire life seems to begin and end with one word: me. However, his recurring fainting spells land him in the hospital, where he’s told that he’s tested positive for HIV. At first feeling hopeless and in despair, Ron soon finds out that there are potential cures for the disease outside of America; cures that people would be more than willing to pay him for. As things escalate, friendships form and people soon learn about Woodruff’s “Dallas Buyers Club”, a club where people can pay money to get these new protein-based cures, Ron becomes the last thing he’d ever thought he’d become; a hero.

Now, using the word hero is generous to say the least. At the start of this picture, Ron is a despicable human being, and that’s putting it mildly. His hateful, drug-induced and homophobic attitude is horrific, but that’s exactly the point. This film is nothing short of any odyssey for Ron Woodruff, as he begins to see that life has more to it than the batch of drugs he buys. McConaughey makes sure the character arc goes over without a hitch, as such an unlikable character could alienate the audience almost immediately. Luckily, McConaughey has a deft ability to walk the fine line between deplorable and tolerable and he makes sure that Ron’s transition from the former into the latter goes off wonderfully. While headlines have been made over the amount of weight loss McConaughey underwent for this role, it’s actually the more subtle bits of his performance I enjoyed, especially the way he handles life changing events in the third act of the film that make the performance truly stupendous.

I must say, director Jean-Marc Vallee impressed me with how he handled Ron’s character arc; it obviously isn’t just McConaughey that has given thought to how the character may go over to viewers. Even more impressive though, is the fact that he doesn’t let such a performance overshadow the film; on the contrary, there’s an even better performance coming from Mr. Jared Leto. Playing fellow HIV victim Rayon, here is a character that could easily have become a stereotype too tasteless even for Family Guy. Instead, Leto instills the persona with a sense of optimism in the face of longing and tragedy, an attitude that provides not only a good balance with Woodruff’s personality but also makes Rayon one of the more complex and riveting characters seen on screen all year.

An emotional rollercoaster thanks to two of the best performances seen all year, Dallas Buyers Club tackles a heartbreaking story flawlessly. With every part of this production (directing, writing, music) firing on all cylinders here, this is the rare production to match Mr. McConaughey in his amazing talents. Perhaps the best sign of this film is how it goes beyond an incredible performance to create a startlingly and heartbreakingly beautiful film on it’s own merits.