Can’t decide what to watch this evening? We’re racking up a big fat coke-fuelled biopic for you.
You know the feeling: you’re in between shows and you can’t for the life of you find something to watch that everyone agrees on. It sucks, which is why we’re making an executive decision and calling it for you. Tonight you’ll be watching Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in Ted Demme’s 2001 film Blow.
Based on the stories of real-life drug smuggler George Jung, the film follows him as he slowly graduates from small-time weed hustler to international kingpin, with a couple of prison stints and parties in between. It also features a stunning Penelope Cruz as his volatile wife, a bulbous Ethan Suplee as his pal Tuna, and Jordi Molla as his coked-up partner Diego Delgado.
No one’s saying this is high cinema, but it’s certainly an entertaining watch. Peep five reasons why you should (re)watch it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWkP1GdnuU
A homage to Scorsese.
Homage? Is that a fancy word for rip off? Maybe, but if you’re a fan of Martin Scorsese’s classics Goodfellas and Casino, you’re probably going to enjoy the similarities here. And there are many: all three are rags to riches to rags crime stories with beautiful and wild women that highlight the pitfalls of drug abuse and crime. Of course, Ray Liotta’s role as Fred Jung only further buffers these comparisons.
The laughable attempts to make Johnny Depp look young (and old).
It’s always funny when actors chuck on a wig or a loose-fitting shirt and expect us to believe that they’re 20 years older or younger than they are. To be fair, in Blow Johnny Depp goes from being a teenager to an old man which isn’t easy to pull off, but it still makes me giggle to see Johnny rocking that ridiculous “teenager” bowl cut.
This little gem of wisdom from George’s dad.
“Sometimes you’re flush and sometimes you’re bust, and when you’re up, it’s never as good as it seems, and when you’re down, you never think you’ll be up again, but life goes on… Money isn’t real, George. It doesn’t matter. It only seems like it does.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw6tzjbILpE
George’s drip.
I guess if you were blasting a lot of snow in the 70s you’d probably be wearing some funky-ass shit too… It’s great when films that go through the decades cherry-pick some of the most outrageous outfits possible and put them on characters as they’re going about their everyday business. Like when George is going through airport security with a bunch of blow looking like Elvis Presley… very low-key of him.
Well… the coke.
In an interview, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante once said that he’d look at pictures of David Bowie when he couldn’t score cocaine to make himself feel high. This movie has the same effect, only it also shows the inescapable spiral from excess consumption, meaning you get that high feeling but don’t actually wanna do it. Much healthier.
