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78
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47
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67
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28
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58
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30
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53
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33
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45
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46
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71
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67
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Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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86
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71
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44
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81
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62
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69
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75
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53
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85
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55
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88
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31
Fix
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80
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xx
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72
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74
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xx
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34
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45
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79
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49
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61
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83
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45
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67
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32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Blow
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 28 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Bruce Porter (book)
David McKenna
Nick Cassavetes
Directed by: Ted Demme
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 6, 2001
DVD: September 11, 2001
Running Time: 124 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive drug content and language, some violence and sexuality
Starring Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths, Paul Reubens, Jordi Mollà, Ray Liotta, and Jacque Lawson
A high-velocity look at George Jung's (Depp) spectacular rise and fall -- based on the true story of how powder cocaine turned into America's biggest drug problem and how one man from the blue-collar suburbs became the 35 billion-dollar a-year conduit to the Colombian cartels. Ted Demme directs this riveting look at the manic allure -- and dangerous reality -- of a drug smuggler's everyday life, and unfolds one of the great untold stories from the recent annals of American crime and culture. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A Decade Under the Influence Beautiful Girls Life Monument Ave.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Scorches the screen with a badass bravado all its own. Smart, sexy, funny and dangerous this high-wire act is a movie and a half.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Rarely since the tale of the Corleones has a movie presented such a compelling, sympathetic portrait of a criminal lowlife.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Melancholy, haunting and riveting true-crime saga.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Carries little in the way of passion or revelatory charge.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
It's basically your above-average nice drug movie.
Read Full Review >Film.com Ernest Hardy
Funny, immediately and consistently engaging, and -- well done on almost every level.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Ends up a portrait through a rose-colored lens, turning a social parasite into a Greek hero.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's a real disappointment: too hasty, too scattered and superficial, and, in the end, disappointingly sappy and sentimental.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Take away the drugs, and this is the story of a boring life in wholesale.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Too soft on its lead character and too willing to chalk up America's drug appetites to the times-that-were-a-changin' in the '60s.
Variety Dennis Harvey
Respectable but unmemorable end result may suffer from comparison with the similarly themed, albeit differently angled, “Traffic.”
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
It's an honest portrayal, but it leaves the audience stranded, without the emotional hook of a character we can care about.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A facile treatment of a complicated subject.
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Depp's witty, spare performance gives the picture a poignancy -- a depth of feeling, if you'll allow the pun -- that Mr. Demme's hectic direction and the hurried script by David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes don't quite earn.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Patterson
If as much thought had been expended on character and consequences as was lavished on bell-bottom diameters, collar widths and soundtrack selection, Blow might have been a richer, more intelligent experience, and much more Demme's movie than a carbon copy of other people's.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This single cautionary tale of how drug innocence gives way to woeful, hung-over experience proves to be way too predictable to effectively caution or even involve anyone.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Blew its chance to be an epic drug opera. It's only nostril-deep.
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
It downplays the effects of George's drug trafficking, not so much on himself and his cronies as on the wrecked lives of the generation of customers we never get to see.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A textbook case of a film that's befuddled by its subject.
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Depp aside, the movie is higher on style than it is on substance.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The real problem is that there's nothing to George but the movie's props.
Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton
Only Depp and Ray Liotta (as Jung's father) manage to animate this tired formula.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
A watchable mediocrity at best.
Newsweek David Ansen
When George’s fortunes start to go from bad to worse, so does the movie.
Washington Post Desson Thomson
If any element takes us through the movie, it's him (Depp).
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
We've just been to this party before and we know how it ends, again and again and again.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Blow works for a scene or two, then stalls.
Slate David Edelstein
This is an extraordinary -- and unfathomable -- piece of whitewashing: a true snow job.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Blake J. gave it a7:
Good, but not as good as the teenage crowd makes it out to be. Johnny does a fine job. Penelope Cruz is so evil I wanted to reach into the screen and choke her, that's acting.
Lauren C. gave it a10:
Best movie i have ever seen.
Chad H. gave it a 9:
This movie was sweet.
B.J. S. gave it a 9:
Johnny Depp was absolutely amazing in this movie. this movie was an amazing portrayal of george young which glorified him and also showed the horrible things that happened to him because of the wrong choices he made in his life. There was not a scene that seemed awkward or that did not fit at all. Ted Demme did an amazing job editing this movie and added his own style of film making that makes you know that it was he whom created it.
Melanie F. gave it a 10:
A supurbe job, well done johnny!
Yoon C. gave it a 6:
Generally serviceable movie about the rise and fall of a drugdealer in the 80s. While the movie resists the temptations for sensationalism inherent in the subject matter, Depp proves rather limp as the central hero. Informative but ultimately predictable.
Ryan T. gave it an 8:
Even though this type of movie has been done before and Scarface is definitely superior to it. It is entertaining throughout and has some great acting by Johnny Depp and Ray Liotta.
