Exclamatory uses of Christ’s name and about 120 f-words are reason enough to avoid Blow, a biopic of smuggler George Jung who hooked America on cocaine in the 1970s. There’s also brief nudity, erotica, recreational drug use and a bloody execution. That said, the film does a remarkable job of showing how a series of immoral, illegal choices devastated Jung and the people he loved.
Raised in a tempestuous blue-collar home, Jung traded the Boston suburbs for the beaches of California in the 1960s. Peddling pot eventually led to trafficking coke for the Medellin Drug Cartel. “If you snorted cocaine in the late ’70s or early ’80s,” Jung says, “there’s an 85 percent chance it came from us.”
Millions of dollars, a fleet of fancy sports cars and a beautiful wife later, Jung left the cartel and devoted himself to fatherhood. Clean. Sober. Legit. But honest work couldn’t support the cushy lifestyle to which his wife had grown accustomed. A hostile divorce ensued, costing Jung his most cherished prize—his little girl. To pay off his ex-wife and earn partial custody, he planned a final drug run. It turned out to be a government sting operation. He’s still in prison today.
During stints behind bars, Jung lost chances to be beside a terminally ill girlfriend, his dying father and his growing daughter. Heartbreaking. He learned too late that drugs and crime don’t pay. Maybe Blow will spare others similar pain. Still, this cautionary tale includes objectionable content that makes it impossible to recommend.
