Film Review: Blow (2001)

Americans tend to have a simplistic view of the world, according to which even the most complex issues are caused by a single individual. So, without Gavrilo Princip, there would not have been anything like the First World War; with Hitler dying in the trenches, there would not have been anything like Nazism; while the Middle East was supposed to become a place of democratic peace and prosperity once Saddam Hussein was taken out of the picture. This approach to world realities was heavily promoted by Hollywood and even applied to some of America's domestic problems, like the rampant abuse of cocaine and the violence and bloodshed that comes with it. The person who is sometimes blamed for bringing such a scourge to American soil is the protagonist of Blow, a 2001 biopic directed by Ted Demme.

The plot, based on the non-fiction book by Bruce Porter, begins in 1950s Boston when the young George Jung (played by Jesse James) lives with his parents, Frederick "Fred" Jung (played by Ray Liotta) and his wife Ermine (played by Rachel Griffiths). Fred is a traditional man who believes that honest hard work is the only way to achieve the American Dream, but all his efforts, due to Ermine's profligacy, cannot prevent bankruptcy. A decade later, the adult George (played by Johnny Depp) is determined not to experience the same fate. When he arrives in sunny and hedonistic California with his friend Tuna (played by Ethan Suplee), he discovers an easy way to make money by buying and selling marijuana on the beaches. He quickly builds a large network of friends that would connect him with a major drug supplier, Derek Foreal (played by Paul Reubens), and give him an idea for a lucrative business scheme. Realising that marijuana is cheap on Californian beaches and, at the same time, expensive on the colleges of the US East Coast, he uses his girlfriend, Barbara Buckley (played by Franka Potente), a flight attendant, to transport large amounts of the drug by air and thus earn enormous profits. A few years later, his idyllic life ends when he is arrested and incarcerated, while Barbara becomes ill and dies. While in prison, he meets the Colombian drug smuggler Diego Delgado (played by Jordi Mollà), who suggests that dealing cocaine would be more profitable than dealing marijuana. After leaving prison, both men contact the legendary Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (played by Cliff Curtis) and set the foundation for an organisation that would, with the help of George's old contacts, soon deliver gigantic amounts of cocaine to the USA. George becomes richer than he ever imagined, and his marriage to the Colombian aristocrat Mirtha (played by Penélope Cruz) should make his happiness complete. In the early 1980s, however, things begin to fall apart - as a cocaine abuser himself, he suffers a heart attack; his friends begin to abandon him, and his own family situation is far from ideal.

Blow at first glance resembles Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, two 1990s classics that dealt with various aspects of social pathology in the USA while chronicling cultural changes over time. This semi-epic approach was supposed to suggest a thesis very popular among nostalgic Baby Boomers - that their subculture based on "light" and "harmless" 1960s drugs like marijuana got perverted in the 1970s through a couple of ruthless individuals who switched to more dangerous and addictive cocaine, thus creating armies of addicts that support indestructible drug empires to this day. Unfortunately, this intriguing idea was lost in the film. The main reason is the main character, with whom the audience, whether it wants to or not, has to identify. To make things even worse, this alleged genius of evil is actually portrayed as a banal and uninteresting individual, even through the performance of such a talented actor as Johnny Depp, who actually plays him without much interest (although he actually befriended Jung in prison while preparing for the role). His life story is full of twists that are actually quite predictable, as well as a pseudo-moralistic approach which won't surprise an audience accustomed to the way Hollywood treats real persons and events.

To make things even worse, Jung's family life takes up too much time, especially in the second part of the film, when the viewers could be more interested in the practical aspects of cocaine smuggling. Even the characters around Jung are poorly written. That includes Jung's wife, played by Penélope Cruz in one of the least inspired roles of her Hollywood career. On the other hand, Ray Liotta and Rachel Griffiths are more successful in the roles of Jung's parents, and the controversial actor Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens brings a few entertaining moments as the effeminate drug lord. Although the good choice of music and solid work on reconstructing three decades of US history improve the general impression, most viewers would see Blow as a disappointment, at least compared with other films that have dealt with the same subject. By the tragic twist of irony, Blow was Ted Demme's last film; the director died from a heart attack attributed to cocaine abuse roughly a year after the film's premiere.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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