Product: Blow [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 2.0
Movie offers nothing new, but DVD is packed with extras.
Based on the book: Blow: How a Small-Town Boy Made 100 million with the Medllin Cocaine Cartel and Lost is All' by Bruce Porter, Blow is an overly familiar, overly slick, docu-drama of real life legendary drug dealer George Jung's life. It's a second rate cable movie with Johnny Depp added to upgrade the package. The film seems all set up to be an interesting character study, but the character is too bland to be very interesting and everything about the story is overly familiar. The few opportunities the film sets up are squandered beneath the stylistic re-treads and multiple montages that we've seen used much more effective in films like: Scorcese's Good Fellas and Casino; in De Palma's Scarface and in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights.However, you might find enough redeeming value in the film's good performances which include worthwhile work from Ray Liotta, Johnny Depp, Cliff Curtis (who too briefly plays Escobar) and Franka Potente (the Run Lola Run star making her American feature film debut here). If you can somehow overlook all of the recycled ideas borrowed from the Scorcese/Tarantino/Anderson/De Palma stylistic tricks and homage to great directors of the past book... you might not find the film the pointless waste of time that I found it to be.That said the DVD does have some much better than average extras, the documentary on the effects of cocaine on Colombia is very well done, the interview with currently imprisoned real life George Jung are among the highlights.If the subject matter , the rise and fall of drug dealer holds any interest, the extras on the disc are definitely worth seeing. In fact the extras are far more interesting and compelling than the film is itself. You can watch the extras integrated into the film via the Infini-film gimmick (previously used in the 13 Weeks, and 15 minutes DVD's) or Separately accessible via the menu options. HINT: Make the film more interesting by making sure you turn on the Fact File feature which will give you subtitles full of interesting stuff throughout the film.Christopher Jarmick,is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller.