[PattyCakes]

Saw this movie today on Comcast on Demand. Excellent movie and easy to see how Matthew McConaunahay won Best Actor and Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor. The primary antagonist in this movie is the FDA, who was under pressure to release AZT to doctors/hospitals to treat HIV/AIDs patients in the early to mid 80's. Ron Hubbard, portrayed by McConauahay, a wild, crazy electrician in Dallas was diagnosed with HIV, and there the story begins. Jennifer Garner plays a hospital doctor who came around to Hubbard's way of thinking when he decided to provide "natural" medicines to HIV/AIDs patients instead of the controversial AZT. This is a true story, and exemplifies how the FDA is so easily swayed by big pharma to release medicines before complete results of side effects/permanent effects on patients are known. Very well done movie, gripping and a slice of 80's American healthcare life.

[redwitch]

I agree. It was a very good movie and McConaughey and Leto deserved their Oscars. Having lived in San Francisco throughout the early days of AIDS ("the Gay disease" back then), I well remember the buyers' clubs that were created for patients -- they really were the first to create cocktails that prolonged life for some. That the FDA worked so hard to shut down these clubs rather than working with them was beyond the understanding of most who had friends dying from AIDS. At least the clubs were prolonging lives, which is more than could be said of the drugs the FDA allowed and AZT was known to kill just as much as AIDS did, just quicker and not quite as painfully. It was wrong and ugly.

[Fourpar]

From another perspective, I thought it was one of the worst movies I've seen. Just glad I only spent $1.29 to rent it....