Ah, to be young, lucky and ruthless in the '70s. With the right contacts, like Colombian drug boss Pablo Escobar, a New England hippie could make maybe $100 million importing cocaine into the U.S. and help it become the favorite cocktail of movie stars, pro athletes and investment bankers. That is George Yung's story, as told by Bruce Porter in the book Blow and now made into a sprawling rise-and-fall melodrama by director Ted Demme (The Ref, Beautiful Girls) and writers David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes.
Demme, who has seen GoodFellas a few times, pours pizazz all over the project to...