The Rum Diary

I have read the book and this movie holds true to the voice that Thompson writes with - this is what makes the movie works. Depp's role, unsurprisingly, mimics his portrayal of Hunter in Fear and Loathing (only with less drugs, not counting alcohol).

The movie can, realistically, be summed up in one "revelation" Depp's character has with a rather unusual counterpart. Throughout the film we see examples of the opulent lifestyle of few and downtrodden livings of the many.

What Depp confides with his "friend", allows us to use what we have learned up to that point in the movie and chew on for the remainder of the movie, is this - the banks hold the wealth while leaving us (and the starving children) to stare at empty brass plates hanging on their front doors. Whether you agree with it or not, this is not a stretch to compare with the "occupy" movement settling into America and around Europe today.

This movie is good. Much like the original book, this movie doesn't try to entertain the viewer; it allows the viewer to sit back and follow along as one man experiences a lifetime of ups and downs in a matter of weeks. And be prepared to go out for a drink afterward, you'll need it.

A Labor of Love, Johnny Depp's Homage to Offbeat Journalist and sometime Novelist Hunter S. Thompson is Affectionate, Warm, and at the Same Time Desperate.

The Novel was Written Early in Thompson's Career when He first Discovered Alcohol and the need for Journalistic Integrity (that defined the writer's output).

Those Expecting the Hallucinatory Visuals and Bombastic, Outrage of Terry Gilliam's and Johnny Depp's take on the Author's most Popular Work, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"(1998) will most Likely be Disappointed. Critics and Moviegoers Reflected this resulting in Poor Box Office and Scathing Reviews.

The Strength of the Movie are the Words, the Dialog that is filled with Insights and Rhetorical Rage. Almost Every Scene is Riddled with Entertaining Oratorical Observations.

The Look of the Movie can't be Faulted as the Beauty of the Island is Contrasted with the Dehumanizing Poverty.

The Cast is Outstanding with Bravura Performances from Michael Siboli, Giovanni Ribisi, and Richard Jenkins. Amber Heard is the Eye Candy. Aaron Eckhart is the Capitalist Villain, a Role that is Not Very Demanding.

Overall, it is an Offbeat Movie that does not have Wide Appeal. Thompson Himself Struggled for Wide Appeal, while Maintaining His Integrity and Never quite got there, at least Not Until very Late in Life, as He Gained Respect and Admiration as a Cult Figure.

The Wordsmith was Given High Tribute by Depp as He Strove to get the Unpublished Novel in Print and the Movie Made.

It's an Odd Film that most likely will Gain in Reputation in the Coming Years when Expectations aren't so High and Knee-Jerk concerning the Long Awaited Novel and Movie.

"Rum Diary" is a retro movie made in the style of all too many films from the early 1970's; the "heroes" are smug, slacker, inconsiderate slobs, but because they talk the talk of peace and love, we are are supposed to overlook their cruelty to individuals and boorish behavior. The kind of movie where the good guys are people that in the real world, you wouldn't want living next to you, or even sitting next to you on a bus or plane. Even with the great Johnny Depp, and a $5.50 seniors' rate ticket , this movie was almost a total yawn. It was so bad,that the ushers requested that we leave our cell phones on.Or at least I wish.

The film begins with main character Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) waking up in a luxurious hotel room in Puerto Rico after a heavy night of drinking. After chomping down a few aspirin, Kemp stumbles into the editors office of the San Juan Star and is given a dead end writing job. After a few chance encounters, Kemp becomes the center of intrigue and corruption while consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

"The Rum Diary" was originally a novella from the twisted mind of Hunter S. Thompson an eccentric journalist and novelist who in addition to smoking, snorting, injecting, drinking every drug, alcohol and carcinogen known to man, managed to change the face of journalism by calling it as he sees it. His writing can repel and enchant with equal measure and has a breakneck spontaneity which is rivaled by its frazzled incoherency.

Incoherency would be the best word to describe this film. The story lacks any kind of focus jumping from a love story, a corrupt land deal, drunken antics, workplace politics and racial tensions. Watching "The Rum Diary" was like talking to a drunk grad student; little flashes of genius may linger but after what seems like four hours you realize you're talking to a drunken idiot and looking for the door.

Thompson's other work adapted to screen shares a similar inconsistency but say what you will about "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" at least it was interesting. Director Bruce Robinson seems unsure behind the camera trying desperately to balance themes and while Terry Gilliam threw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, Robinson compensates by drawing out its screen time and keeping the camera-work and editing as dull and uninspiring as possible.

The films only saving grace is the inclusion of Giovanni Ribisi as a cirrhosis addled, syphilitic cohort who takes LSD while listening to records of Nazi propaganda. His arguments with the Star's head editor (Richard Jenkins) provide some of the few precious moments of humor.

The epilogue appears while Johnny Depp sails into the horizon explaining that while its the end of the story "...its the beginning of another." I would have liked to have seen the other story. At least by then the sardonic wit of Thompson was finally present.

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Rum Diary (2011)

If you're looking for the craziness of later Hunter S. Thompson, you'll find shreds of it here. In a way this is a more cogent movie than say "Fear and Loathing…" but it's also a bit prosaic beneath the wilder stuff that peppers the surface. Johnny Depp stars and runs the show in his usual strong if uninspired way as a new, hard-drinking reporter with a failing English language newspaper in Puerto Rico.

There is a true surface here that's pretty amazing--the cars, the low down rot of the apartments, the racism between the rich white Americans and the indigenous Puerto Ricans. The depth you might expect and want here is slim, however, even though all the pieces are in play for a great drama--a charming troubled writer in a land filled with prejudice and violence and great natural beauty. It pushes the clichés too hard, and it's generally agreed (even by Thompson) that the material is weak and "rambling." The movie doesn't rearrange it enough to make it work.

You can in a way watch this for those surfaces, if you don't need too much more. There are several secondary characters who do their best to be a bit insane, including Giovanni Ribisi as a drugged out waif of a reporter, something like what Thompson himself might have become later in life. (See of course the Depp in the imperfect 1998 "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for a sense of the famous freewheeling selfish addled sometimes brilliant Thompson.)

The director here also adapted Thompson's book and if he gets the credit for the nice ambiance of the film he also gets the burden of how clunky, choppy, and sometimes slow it is, even with such exciting material. It's not a horror, it's watchable, but you'll flag here and there. Even the end, without giving a thing away, is a bit deflating.