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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 31.25%
Worth A Look: 38.75%
Average: 21.25%
Pretty Bad: 7.5%
Total Crap: 1.25%
13 reviews, 82 user ratings
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| Blow |
by MP Bartley
"Remember kids: drug dealing is B.A.D."
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I don't mind predictability sometimes. When I put my money down for a mindless summer flick I don't expect anything particularly surprising or challenging. And as long as it's done with style, interest and respect for the audience I can kinda dig that. But when a film comes along that is obviously ABOUT SOMETHING and has a MESSAGE to impart, well that's when I want to be surprised by the journey taken. The journey 'Blow' takes however, is one you could have written down yourself on the bottom of your popcorn tub. And it has about as much weight and interest as a popcorn tub too.In the 60's George Jung (Johnny Depp) and his best friend Tuna (Ethan Suplee) hit the California beaches to meet girls, get drunk and get stoned. They didn't realise that getting stoned would also start George on the path to becoming one of the biggest drug smugglers America has ever known, even leading to establishing a relationship with Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis).
So it's 'Goodfellas' meets 'Boogie Nights' meets 'Trainspotting' with a hip 60's and 70's vibe. Or at least it should be. You can see the attraction that Ted Demme had towards the script, it has the possibility of being a dazzling exercise in style undercut with a serious social message. Unfortunately Ted Demme just turns it into a movie of the week for the big screen. Everything happens just the way you would expect it to, with no surprises and little tension to George's exploits. Predictably the first half of the film is on a high, much like George himself as he enjoys the benefits that only mass drug dealing can bring. And equally predictably the second half of the film is on a downer much like George himself as he realises the losses that only mass drug dealing can inflict. Get the picture here?
Demme doesn't have the ideas or the energy needed to bring this story to life. Everything about it feels flat and devoid of interest, as if he thought the story itself would carry the interest. It's certainly an interesting story but it needs more than uninspired direction to bring that interest to a big screen. Scenes of violence are never shocking and just feel forced in to try and create some spark of interest.
Compare the scene where George, carrying cocaine, has his bag searched to a similiar scene in 'Donnie Brasco' where Depp has to remove his shoes in a Japanese restaurant which would reveal the tape recorder strapped to his leg. Whilst the scene in 'Donnie Brasco' bristles with tension and unreleased violence, the scene in 'Blow' barely raises a pulse. We never feel that George is on the edge of being caught or found out, so when he inevitably does it's with a yawn and a sense of "about time we got to this bit. Is this the bit where he'll inevitably lose contact with his children?".
Demmes flat direction has one interesting characteristic however: he's managed to make Johnny Depp look bland. And this is Johnny Depp, possibly the finest character actor working today who made a drunken pirate in a Disney film an Oscar nominated performance. And Demme renders him virtually anonymous.
Possibly because of the fact he has to work with a series of really bad wigs and false beer-guts throughout the film, but Depp never looks or feels comfortable in the role, and it's probably the least inspired he's ever been.
At least he's not awful however. No, that accolade falls to Penelope Cruz as his wife. False right from the start, she just puts forward more evidence that she's the worst actress working today. Cruz always gives the smug impression that we should be bowled over by the work that she's doing, that she's a truly gifted performer who deigns to lower herself by portraying these people far below her privileged self. Unfortunately we just realise that the only reason we even know who she is is that she pretended to be Tom Cruise's girlfriend for a while. By the time the film reaches the 1980's and her fox-like features (that's fox-like, not foxy) are practically obscured by a truly horrendous wig and track suit, we're fondly reminded of 'Dallas'. The 80's was a time of tacky excess, but instead of satirising it or revelling in it, Demme solemnly adopts it, thus making 'Blow' laughable when it should be at its most tragic.
The only person to come out with any real credit is Ray Liotta as George's father. Despite being only about ten years older than Depp, Liotta is convincing as the stricken father torn apart by his sons wayward path. It's no surprise that 'Blow' is at its best whenever Liotta is on screen, as he gives the film the only emotion that it has. Who'd have thought that being a drug runner was just so boring? Because that's how Demme renders it.With a story like 'Blow' you'd be foolish to not imagine it like a great tragedy. A young, foolish man enjoying the vicarious pleasures that life has to offer before getting too big for his boots and eventually falling back to earth with a big bang. 'Blow' would like to think it's reached those almost Shakespearean heights, but never does, and rarely achieves anything more than a brief flicker of interest. It's never fun enough, it's never exciting enough and it's never tragic enough. When all the deals have been done and you look at it in the cold light of day, 'Blow' is just lightweight.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4720&reviewer=293
originally posted: 06/23/04 01:52:10
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USA
06-Apr-2001 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
23-Aug-2001 (M)
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