Who would have thought Matthew McConaughey was capable of being despicable? The actor formerly mostly noted for turning in performances of unreliable but easy-on-the-eyes boyfriend material ("Contact," "Wedding Planner," "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," etc) could be about to bag his first Oscar with his portrayal of a totally unpleasant guy in "Dallas Buyers Club."
To be fair, McConaughey has already torn his way out of the cocoon that sheltered him from the big bad world of playing hard and dirty. With his excellent performances over the last couple of years in unsavory roles in "Bernie," "Magic Mike," "The Paperboy" and "Mud," he has reinvented himself into a man who, if you sat next to him on the subway, would inadvertently cause you to clutch your bag with both hands and secretly pray.
In "Dallas Buyers Club" he gives arguably his best and most powered performance yet, shedding over 20 kg to play Ron Woodroof, a real-life Texas electrician who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1985. As McConaughey presents him, Woodroof lives for booze, hookers and the rodeo. He's the genuine Deep South bigot, with a raging case of homophobia. So it's hard to sympathize when one day he has an accident at work and strides into the doctor's office, only to be told that he is HIV positive with 30 days to live.