George Jung (Johnny Depp), a normal American kid who makes a personal vow against poverty, builds a
marijuana empire in the '60s, multiplies his fortune with the Colombian Medellín cocaine cartel, and
blows it all with a series of police busts culminating in one final, long-term jail sentence. "Your dad's
a loser," says this absentee father to his estranged but beloved daughter, and he's right: Blow is the
story of a nice guy who made wrong choices all his life, almost single-handedly created the American
cocaine trade, and got exactly what he deserved. As directed by Ted Demme, the film is vibrantly
entertaining, painstakingly authentic... and utterly aimless in terms of overall purpose.
We can't sympathize with Jung's meteoric rise to wealth and the wild life, and Demme isn't suggesting
that we should idolize a drug dealer. So what, exactly, is the point of Blow? Simply, it seems, to
present Jung's story as the epitome of the coke-driven glory days, and to suggest, ever so subtly, that
Jung isn't such a bad guy, after all. Anyone curious about his lifestyle will find this film amazing,
and there's plenty of humor mixed with the constant threat of violence and paranoid anxiety. Demme has
also populated the film with a fantastic supporting cast (although Penélope Cruz grows tiresome as Jung's
hedonistic wife), and this is certainly a compelling look at the other side of Traffic. Still, one
wishes that Blow had a more viable reason for being; like a wild party, it leaves you with a hangover
and a vague feeling of regret. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.