The Rum Diary film review

The Rum Diary Theatrical Poster

“The Rum Diary” seemingly advertises itself as a companion piece to “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” — which was also based off of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel of the same title — yet it goes nowhere near what “Fear and Loathing” offered to audience members.
 
Based on Thompson’s book “The Rum Diary,” the film adaptation entails a voyeuristic journey of an American journalist, Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp), who pursues a freelance job in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1960.

Depp hashes up a watered down version of the “Fear and Loathing’s” lead in “The Rum Diary.” But that’s not surprising, considering “The Rum Diary” is basically a reproduction of “Fear and Loathing.”

The story of “The Rum Diary” begins with Kemp, who wakes up in the midst of an outrageous
hangover the night before. To his surprise, he’s thrust into a world of political greed and economic downfall in Puerto Rico. Then, he decides to search for an honest story, the truth or perhaps the American Dream.

I look pretty bored. What about you?

So, where is the American Dream?

It’s possibly somewhere in the heaping bags of rum, whiskey, beer and any other alcoholic drinks you can possibly name — don’t forget the hallucinogens, which seem to be core themes in Thompson’s stories.

But bogged down by the drugs and alcohol, Kemp seems unable to stumble upon it. Simply put, there is no American Dream. While the idea of the story sounds great, it becomes a quick mess on screen. We’ve all seen the same film before and we get it — the economy sucks and has for the past decade.

All those years of production and this is what I get?

Though the film tries to get this message across, it does a measly job of balancing the subplots. As the film progresses, characters are literally shoved into your face without giving you time to breathe. You would think that with a film that runs for approximately two hours, the filmmakers could find a medium to balance each subplot. But it doesn’t take long before the film becomes a fiasco of characters and subplots that you could care less for. And even the beautiful location and Depp’s routine antics can’t salvage the film in the end.

“The Rum Diary” tries excruciatingly hard to depict an escape from society’s corruption through alcohol, the tropics and, of course, the one and only Depp, but it simply and sadly falls flat in the end.

2/4