BLOW

2001

This week, I taped and watched the excellent '80's BBC Masterpiece Theater series "Traffik,"(the film that inspired last year's inferior American version, entitled "Traffic.) Having just watched this substantive, in-depth view of the worlds' drug problems, must surely have influenced the way I saw "Blow"...a superficial and often stupid true story, about the life of drug dealer George Jung from Weymouth, Massachusetts! The film is poorly written and amateurishly directed; it can't decide whether it wants to be comical, poignant, or tragic. It succeeds only in being ridiculous. The worse part of the movie is the truly awful acting of the two female leads...Penelope Cruz(who has yet to make a good English-language film,) and Rachel Griffiths (as Johnny Depp's mother even though she's younger than Depp!) If there's any reason at all to see this mess, it's to enjoy the hairstyles, fashions, and music of the '70's. On second thought that's not reason enough!

1 Star

NJB

Johnny Depp stars in the true story of George Jung, or "Boston George," a man who spent a lifetime helping Americans get high. It began small, selling pot to college students and ultimately led to importing cocaine through a partnership with one of Colombia's largest drug cartels. A lot of this film reminded me of GOODFELLAS in the way it chronicles those early years of happiness and prosperity but ultimately leads to the inevitable violence, greed, incarceration and isolation. Unlike many of its drug movie counterparts, however, BLOW does not hit you in the face with the evils of drug abuse or the horrors of addiction. They're there, but much more subtly so that you can actually just enjoy the movie. This one is really about how a life of crime can destroy all that is good in your life- a lesson many of us don't really need, but find very entertaining to watch. Depp is very good, Penelope Cruz is window dressing, and Ray Liotta is strong as always. And one last note- why is that every movie I've seen over the last few years that takes place during the 70s and 80s seems to be trying to outdue the last one in terms of ridiculous clothing? Come on!

4 Stars

CDF