Prop-alike storytelling

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2001)

Whoever liked GOOD FELLAS and enjoys a certain *scorcesean* filmstyle (off voiceover, sudden freezes, documentary-alike, quick storytelling) will probably like BLOW, too. But just like already CASINO was more a presentation of atmosphere than a character-based storytelling, BLOW at times almost only proceeds by just presenting different props: Depp takes his sunglasses off, says "I'll get it" (pot or cocaine), then a 30second videoclip tells us what happens the next five years, and - boom! - different jacket, different wig, but same apathetic acting, Depp now taking glasses off again, says: "I was good at it" - or something alike. Another scene I've seen a dozen times by now is a couple breaking up in a prison, one behind glas, the other one as visitor: "You always care just about yourself", "There's somebody else", "You don't support me" etc... Cut, some more years, different props, same people: "How are you ?". It gets hard to warm up or feel for someone that way.
Summing it up: Despite some more convincing parts from the side characters (especially his drug-compagnions or Ray Liotta as his father), BLOW is like a record from the seventies: You can put it on, listen to it, and put it away again without really having a real clue about the person supposedly portrayed.