Morality tale set in the drug world

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2003)

Life story of George Jung who went from street corner dope peddler to one of the biggest distributor of cocaine in America.
Easy to see why cinema is interested in characters like this: Here you have everything: Rag to riches, greed, sex, power, betrayal, loyalty, social history and morality play. Taking on subjects like this is like shooting fish in a barrel - if you can't make two hours of interesting cinema about this (with a Hollywood budget) you better get another job.
Strangely Depp doesn't really know what to do with the lead character. He plays it poker faced and we learn far more from the voice-over than we do from his actions or expressions. Hard drugs leave victims and given that Depp talks mainly about himself and his problems it is hard to feel anything for him.
No real attempt is made at explaining why America is so drug ridden and dependent. Certainly countries that provide cocaine - where it is cheaper than talcum powder -don't seem to have the same problems with it. Maybe America is a country where not feeling great all the time is a form of illness? In voiceover Depp suggests that artists are the leaders in America as regards taste and consumption. Maybe this is my clue?
So what have we got: A man that won and then lost. Is this better than never having tried? Or working in a factory and struggling with the bills? Even in success our protagonist never seems to get beyond having brief moments of triumph. Was this really true, was counting money just as tedious as being broke or is this just an interpretation?
As a film Blow moves along well enough to keep you watching. Penelope Cruz makes a good impression as the selfish, but basically honourable, wife. And Paul Reubens (in a bad wig) makes an impression as the hairdresser/dope dealer that speeds our anti-hero on his way, but a lot of the parts are throwaway. There is no honour among thieves? Well there never has been - apart from in the movies.
Blow is little more than an inflated TV bio-pic. Every step along the road is predictable and signalled in advance. We know that the end of this road will be premature death or a prison cell. It is just a matter of which.