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Latest Depp film doesn’t rock weekend box office

Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp, a journalist who relocates to Puerto Rico in an effort to escape the woes of capitalism in the 1960s. Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, the film is centered around Kemp’s excessive use of drugs and alcohol while writing for The San Juan Star. | GK Films

A small plane glides over the clear, blue Caribbean with a banner attached saying something about Puerto Rico. Our eyes follow the plane through beautiful sights when the lens finally focuses on a hotel on the crisp beach. Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) staggers from the bed and through the litter of a trashed hotel room with an extreme hang-over, throwing open the curtains to see the plane soar past.

And so begins “The Rum Diary,” the story of a freelance journalist who, in a critical point in his life, has resorted to the rum-soaked lifestyle of his self-destructive peers. He leaves New York City to write for The San Juan Star, a cheap and run-down Puerto Rican newspaper.

Adapted from Hunter S. Thompson’s debut novel, the film focuses on the aspect of greed and the rise of capitalism in 1960 by wealthy businessman Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). The cast includes characters that work for the paper, including Richard Jenkins, Michael Rispoli and Giovanni Ribisi in the role of a lifetime as Moburg — a sketchy alcoholic who has a fondness for Hitler records.

The film serves as an unofficial prequel to the first Hunter S. Thompson adaptation starring Depp, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Unlike “Fear and Loathing,” “The Rum Diary” is a work of fiction but Kemp shares common features that were typical of Thompson, including an extreme distaste for Richard Nixon.

This gives the film a more zany perspective that was not present as much in the novel, giving Depp another chance to channel Thompson’s often critically eccentric and wily personality. Not unlike the film adaptations of Stephen King, “The Rum Diary” over-emphasizes the fact that it’s a work by Thompson — a man who was known for continuous drug and alcohol use.

The use of alcohol is spot-on in comparison to the novel, but there is a special treat: an added drug sequence to give it what audiences would expect for an adaptation from the mind of Thompson.

Kemp decides to attempt a retaliation against what he sees as the cruelty of the capitalistic corporations that are virulently spreading throughout society. Instead of writing favorably about them for a paycheck, he exploits the people that he feels are responsible.

Things also get more interesting regarding Kemp’s interest in Chenault, Sanderson’s fiancée played by the strikingly beautiful Amber Heard. Kemp fights for what Thompson spent his life searching for — the American dream, which is seen as capitalism that everyone plays into, but if they were to wake up all they’d want was their money back. Kemp is told to look the other way and concern himself only with writing favorably about the American gluttons coming in for gambling and bowling.

“The Rum Diary” is a hilarious journey in beautiful Puerto Rico through the eyes of the news-makers living there on nothing but cigarettes, alcohol and burgers. Fans of Hunter S. Thompson and Johnny Depp will not be disappointed.

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3 Comments

  • I like Johnny too much that's why I gonna see this movie,it's looks funny.I know is not a big movie,anyway I'd like the people go and see it, the cast is good.

  • I just saw the movie and loved it. Great cinematography, romance, offbeat characters reminded me of my debauchery in my twenties and thirties. LOL
    JT Mack California

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