The Ultimate Guilty Pleasure

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2012)

With tons of beautiful girls, (including an amazingly seductive Penelope Cruz) a great Seventies rock score, and Johnny Depp running wild in a gloriously overblown performance as the dope kingpin with a heart of gold, BLOW is truly the ultimate guilty pleasure. From the very first notes of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" to the shameless, manipulative, old-fashioned tear-jerker of an ending, this shallow, manipulative saga of the poor, misunderstood dope dealer is pure entertainment that delivers a roller-coaster ride of thrills.
What BLOW does not deliver, however, is any deeper kind of truth. I don't mean that it needs a stronger anti-drug message. George Jung loses everything. It's just that there are so many little things that don't ring true. ALL the women in the story are either crazed backstabbing hoes or else pathetic, helpless victims. When push comes to shove, even George's little girl has a cold, cold heart. And of course, all the Latinos are either sleazy low-life greasers or psychotic wild-eyed killers right out of TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.
Notice that when a black man plays a dope dealer, like Wesley Snipes in NEW JACK CITY, he has to be portrayed as pure evil from start to finish. Presumably black criminals are dangerous in ways that white criminals are not. (So much for liberal Hollywood.) In any case, pretty boy Johnny Depp seems determined to make his dope dealer a gentle soul who's been misunderstood all his life -- and betrayed (over and over and over) by the Usual Suspects. Weak father, mean mother, horrible brown-skinned foreigners, and of course, no-good women. Because we all know white drug dealers are gentle and peaceful and never hurt anyone no matter what the provocation. The one time George Jung pulls a gun it's empty -- natch! So in conclusion, if you want to have a few beers (or some other form of refreshment) and groove to "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" from the STICKY FINGERS album, and see Penelope Cruz in a cute leather dominatrix outfit, BLOW is a movie that really delivers. Just don't ask it to make any kind of sense, or speak to any kind of larger truth.