Today’s quick review: Blow. George Jung (Johnny Depp), an innovative drug dealer, opens up a brand new market by bringing cocaine to the United States for the first time. His success brings him mountains of cash, a beautiful wife (Penelope Cruz), and a young daughter, but law enforcement, family troubles, and fractures within his empire threaten to send it all tumbling down.
Blow is a crime drama about the drug trade. Based on a true story, Blow follows George Jung in his ascent to the top of the drug ladder and the twists and turns that await him there. The movie splits the difference between drama and biography, shifting quite naturally between George’s personal and professional lives. Much of the human element comes from his daughter, the one bit of normalcy in his abnormal life.
Blow does succeed in telling a good story. George’s progression from small-time pot dealer to cocaine kingpin is easy to follow, a tale of entrepreneurship run amok. The temptations he faces are laid out clearly, from slipping back into his old habits after an early arrest to deciding who to trust. The vicissitudes of fate are given a surprisingly plausible treatment for a genre that is prone to exaggeration, making the story as unpredictable as real life.
Where Blow finds itself on shakier ground is its personal drama. George lacks the passion or grandiosity of a movie drug kingpin; he is just an ordinary man in over his head. Viewed that way, George is a nuanced, realistic figure of a type not often seen in the crime genre. The problem is that George lacks character. He has all the regrets of a tragic figure without the charm to balance them, a neutral man who seems to drift through life.
Like other movies in the genre, Blow has the winding, unpredictable plot of a true story. Whether this is a strength or weakness is a question of taste, but it does have profound implications for the pacing and momentum of the movie. George’s life progresses in fits and starts, disrupting any sense of linear buildup. Several important elements of the story arrive late on the scene, sacrificing story structure for realism.
Watch Blow if you are looking for a decently executed crime drama with uncommon grounding in reality. George Jung separates himself from other movie drug dealers by never descending wholly into violence or madness; his failings are more personal in nature. At the same time, the movie’s realism keeps it from living up to its potential as fiction. For better entries into the rise-and-fall genre, check out Scarface, Casino, or The Wolf of Wall Street.
7.6 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for a decent story, glimmers of character, and debatable tradeoffs.