April 10, 2001
REVIEW: Despite Masterful Performances From Depp and Liotta, Blow Doesn't Quite Ignite
By Arun Kristian Das
Johnny Depp has the habit of making decent films much more interesting to watch. His latest, Blow, is far from mediocre, but Depp leads a good cast in spicing up an otherwise "seen that done better" script.
Directed by Ted Demme (Life), Blow chronicles the 30-year rise (and fall, of course) of drug dealer George Jung (Depp), who supposedly turned a small beach-town marijuana ring into a multimillion-dollar international cocaine enterprise. The script, based on a nonfiction book by Bruce Porter, quickly takes Jung from his working class, Massachusetts, childhood to the flesh and freedom of young adulthood in swinging California, to the high-stakes and high-risk inner circle of a Colombian drug cartel.
Along the way, Jung hooks up with a colorful cast of characters, including the seductive Barbara (Franka Potente) who shows him the virtues of inhaling, the kooky hairdresser and weed peddler Derek Foreal (Paul Reubens), fellow prison inmate Diego Delgado (Jordi Mollà) who teaches Jung that Colombian cocaine is the ticket to real riches, and the temptress Mirtha (Penelope Cruz, in a one-note bitchy, annoying and unworthy performance), whom Jung eventually marries.
"I went into prison with a bachelor's degree in marijuana and came out with a doctorate in cocaine," Jung narrates. Depp's acting has just the right balance of boldness, attitude and humanity to make Jung seem real, despite his unconvincing 70s-style wigs. It's his best performance since Donnie Brasco.
The rags-to-riches story has been told many times before and more successfully in Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas, Brian DePalma's Scarface and from a different perspective in Spike Lee's Clockers, so even though Blow has the force of truth behind it, one can't help but feel something's not quite fresh. We get the obligatory montage of scenes of hedonism, showing the progress of Jung's success, cut to a gripping 1970s soundtrack.
Character development and interaction help make the picture engaging. Adventures in the drug trade can make for intriguing and entertaining storytelling, and indeed Blow's plot points hold enough interest, but the inevitability of Jung's downfall (the opening scene and narration allude to this, so no surprise has been revealed) would leave the movie nowhere were it not for the few riveting scenes between Jung and his father, Fred, played masterfully by Ray Liotta. Perhaps viewed as a one-tone actor from films like GoodFellas and Copland, Liotta proves his range in this film by convincingly communicating love, concern, disappointment and ultimately tremendous sorrow with a simple look on his face and in his eyes, and with a few choice words. As Fred ages from a broke but optimistic construction worker to a drained, almost hollow old man trapped in a dysfunctional marriage, he never wavers in his love for his son, despite the disappointment at George's choice of career.
Liotta's performance, though in a limited role, makes Fred the heart and conscience of the movie, allowing Blow to work as a morality play without reducing it to a "message" movie. If the film does well at the box office or at least generates some buzz, look for an Oscar nod for Liotta next year.
Blow. Directed by Ted Demme; produced by Denis Leary, Ted Demme, Joel Stillerman and Georgia Kacandes; screenplay by David McKenna and Nick Cassavettes, based on the book by Bruce Porter; starring Johnny Depp, Ray Liotta, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths, Paul Reubens and Jordi Mollà. New Line Cinema, 2001. Rated R.