Product: Blow [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 3.0
Technically excellent...
I'm impressed with Infinifilm's presentation style in their DVD efforts. I really loved 13 Days (see a prior review), and if there is one thing worthy of notice in "Blow", it is the presentation, technical style and DVD extras. No attempt is made in the actual film to explore the horrors of cocaine, but the twodocumentaries make it clear how the 70's drug of choice has devastated the culture and society of Colombia, along with the lives of many. Ted Demme, a fine director, explores what scenes were left on the cutting room floor in an entertaining piece, and the real George Jung gives a film interview that makes the "goings on" in Blow seem a little closer to reality.That said, the film was a disappointment to me - well filmed, with no seeming point or passion. I felt that Johnny Depp wasbelievable and totally in character for the role, and perhaps heand Demme meant to have him exhibit little or no passion or chemistry with the central women in his life, his mother, his wife, his daughter. He's believable in the youth scenes and the drug trafficking scenes, in prison....but seeing him try to make us believe that his daughter is the central focus of his life...well, it just didn't feel that way on the screen.Ray Liotta is miscast and subdued as Jungs' dad, and, with every passing flick I grow more and more disenchanted with Penelope Cruz, who just seems to show up on the screen, emote a little, and hurry to get back to her film trailer. Capt. Corelli was disastrous, she is strident and unattractive in Blow, and, intuition tells me that Vanilla Sky will fall on its face.So, you take a bit of pop culture, add an incredibly talented leading man and director with little support from the other cast, and perhaps not enough of a tale to tell, and you get "Blow".Not a favorite of mine.