Critics should take another look at this film

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2001)

Why do I get the feeling as if most critics have missed the point of this movie? A lot of them have said Blow fails to be the drug epic that it was intended to be, but a movie based on someone's life can be nothing more or less than what the life was. This movie most likely wasn't a drug epic because, no matter how the story was told, it probably would have fallen short of movie goers expectations. The trailer certainly portrays it as a drug epic, but it really is nothing more than the story of a very heartbreaking life. If Johnny Depp fans, or drug-movie fans, or just movie goers in general go to the theater for entertainment, they are sometimes inevitably disappointed. On such an occasion, some people fail, wallowing in their disappointment, to catch on to the real point of such a movie. Sometimes reality isn't as glamorous as the movies, and this movie does a lot more telling of truths than glamorizing, which affords it a lot more credit than it has received.

The main character by the name of George Jung seemed to have taken part in the entire drug market as if it were business as usual. He came off as if he was never interested in his own rise to the top, and the top was so obscured that it could be argued he never got there. Without an extensive leap into studies of the man, no one can really say whether Depp's performance was spot on or fell short, but he certainly had no problem sympathizing with and conveying the emotions that no doubt must have surfaced in Jung's life, and after all, isn't that what acting is all about? If anyone were to say that Depp fell short in this movie, it would only be feasible to assume that it is harder for people to take him seriously as an actor because he is so easy on the eyes. It is obvious that this movie was intended for a man with an iota of homeliness, but at the end of the film, they gave Depp wrinkles and a gut, and he still looked hot. None the less, such things that cannot be helped must be overlooked, and I would move to say that Johnny Depp's performance was no less than brilliant.
If the movie had one significant criminal flaw, it was in portraying Jung as the protagonist who wants to do nothing more than love his daughter. This is done in narrative by the character himself, so we must remember that his reality is slightly askew to the viewers. The words he tells us are not for us to believe but simply to tell the story from "his" point of view. He still leaves us with our own decisions to make toward him at the end.
The movie wasn't wildly funny or wildly entertaining, but sometimes a movie can still be brilliant without those things. The way to measure this movie before jumping to conclusions is to take a pen and draw a line between the characters and the actors. It is all but impossible to do in this movie, and that is why it deserves a second look. .