A FIRST LOOK: There”s been a lot of talk about Dallas Buyers Club, mostly centered around Matthew McConaughey”s insane weight loss. about the film reports that he was on a strict 400-calorie-a-day plan to play Ron Woodroof. He”s the Texas electrician who contracted HIV in 1986 and then crusaded for better access to life-saving drugs. The Dallas Buyers Club trailer debuted this week; the movie is scheduled for a Nov. 1 release locally.

THE SINGING DETECTIVE: Sam Shade-A Detective Musical, currently being staged by DVA Productions, spoofs The Invisible Man and The Maltese Falcon. Classics to be sure. So how does the update treat the originals? Jan Farrington says the singing is great, but, “Sam Shade is in dire need of a story doctor with an axe, not a scalpel,” she writes on theaterjones.com. “The listlessly written scenes between the musical numbers stretch patience, and there’s only so much the actors can do to put them across.” And Punch Shaw was less happy than that. “On the whole, very little about this show, directed by Sheran Keyton, works,” he writes on dfw.com. “Some of the silliness, such as an extended Invisible Man joke, elicits a few laughs. But most of the musical numbers are forgotten as soon as they are heard.” The show runs through this Sunday at Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

A HAPPY RETURN: Stage West has a thing for P.G. Wodehouse. Its current Thank You, Jeeves is the sixth production of the author”s stories that the company has presented in the last 10 years. And from reading the reviews, it sounds as if the common thread among the productions is reason enough to return to the well. That”s Jim Covault as Jeeves. “The one constant in these shows over a dozen or so years has been longtime Stage West fixture Jim Covault, who has, with proper posture and a naturally pursed lip, perfectly embodied the butler who has become synonymous with decorum and no-fuss problem-solving,” Mark Lowry writes on dfw.com. “Jeeves is a perfect role for his calm, authoritative stage manner,” Lawson Taitte writes on dallasnews.com. “It’s always a pleasure to see him do it, and you don’t tire of it because Jeeves only comes onstage to fix problems.” Catch it through Sept. 29.