*Blow*

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2010)

Blow comes so close to being a great movie, but it fails. The story is awesome and very smart, the way it unfolds and the pacing is excellent. The soundtrack is really good and definitely helps. It's one of the coolest movies ever, it's just a little flawed. The characters here are hit or miss, and unfortunately the main character, George Jung, is a miss. It's not by any fault of Johnny Depp; he probably gives the best performance of anyone. The lines are just bad at times. The writing of dialogue is just bad at times. It makes characters lack depth and respond in unnatural, unbelievable ways. I don't know how else to say it other than it makes for an overall 'cheesy' vibe. You could say it lacks proper dramatic moments. Penelope Cruz is so underused in this movie too. Her character is so dry, I don't think she had any effective lines. Ray Liotta is great, but just like Depp his character suffers from bad writing. Bad acting isn't the issue here. A few of the characters completely work though. Jordi Molla as George's connection, Deigo Delgado, is just great, maybe the best in the movie, and Paul Reubens as Derek Foreal is well-written. Nick Cassevetes has a gift, clearly, but the characters all seem to personify his attitude in a sense. They need more variety. But the bad doesn't outweigh the good with Blow; it's still an awesome movie and certainly one of my 50 favorite films. You just have to enjoy Blow for what it is, one of the best drug/gangster movies ever, a cultural classic.