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BLOW Send This Review to a Friend
Given the artistic quality and impact of "Traffic," this new film about the drug scene pales by comparison. The main interest in "Blow" is the performance by Johnny Depp as George Jung, the real life dealer currently still serving time in prison. Depp is interesting in whatever he does, but the saga that evolves in the screenplay by David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes based on the book by Bruce Porter is on the pedestrian side. The bases are covered, and Depp gets a chance to show Jung as a person gone astray in the cautionary tale, but the film as a whole doesn't leave an impression that makes sitting through his drug-infested life particularly worthwhile.
Director Ted Demme faithfully captures the drug binges of the 1970s as the film demonstrates how Jung, a working class young man, goes about his determination to succeed at making money, something his honest father, nicely played by Ray Liotta, was never able to do. We watch his path to becoming an enormously successful dealer as a representative of a powerful Colombian cartel, with all the inherent dangers, from risking his life to the risk of being cut out by greedy associates. Ultimately, there is the law.
Penelope Cruz plays Jung's wife, who turns on him when his fortunes decline, just as his mother had berated his father in their difficult times. Jung is devoted to his young daughter, but his getting busted separates them just as he is making headway in retrieving the relationship with her following the divorce from her mother. The ending is a sad one, and it is a tribute to Depp that he can work up sympathy for Jung, who after all was helping to flood the country with cocaine that ruined an untold number of lives. Key supporting roles are well handled by Rachel Griffiths, Jordi Molla, Paul Reubens, Cliff Curtis and Ethan Suplee. But the drug film to see is still "Traffic." A New Line Cinema release.
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