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It's colorful and amiable enough, and Depp's heart is clearly in the right place, but The Rum Diary fails to add sufficient focus to its rambling source material. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
As the Eisenhower era draws to a close, journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) decides he's had enough of New York and takes a job in Puerto Rico. There, he becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the fiancee of a shady businessman named Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), who wants to turn the pristine island into a capitalist's paradise. Recruited by Sanderson to write an article that praises an unsavory deal, Paul must decide if he will use his talents to help Sanderson, or bring him down.
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Rating: R (Language|Brief Drug Use|Sexuality)
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Genre: Comedy, Drama
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Original Language: English
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Director: Bruce Robinson
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Producer: Johnny Depp, Christi Dembrowski, Anthony Rhulen, Robert Kravis, Graham King, Tim Headington
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Writer: Bruce Robinson
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $13.1M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: FilmDistrict
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Production Co: GK Films, E1 Entertainment
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for The Rum Diary
Critic Reviews for The Rum Diary
Audience Reviews for The Rum Diary
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I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of The Rum Diary, I almost dismissed it from the trailer, what I got was a pleasant surprise. The film is flawed in its acting and pacing.The scene where Kemp (played by Johnny Depp) met Chenault in the lake contained piss poor acting. I ended up rewinding to see it again, and found it nastily cheesy. The movie was poorly paced, starting very slow and suave, in a Hemingway like setting, and then just chopping through the action scenes. Amber Heard looked stunning as Chenault, no wonder Kemp fell in love with her. This film does have tremendous humor. The tongue scene (when they're under the influence of eye drops) had me laughing for a couple minutes. The film has themes of alcoholism (I guess that obvious from the title), and race division. I'd like to read Hunter S. Thompson's book, as this seems it'd would work even better if it was read. The only thing I know about Thompson is that he also wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and he had an awesome funeral. Anyways this is a solid introduction to Bruce Robinson.
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Paul Kemp: Why did she have to happen? Just when I was doing so good without her. "One part outrage. One part justice. Three parts rum. Mix well." One thing you have to know before going into any Hunter S. Thompson adaption is that he is very polarizing, as are his books, and as are the films based on his books. Very seldom do you hear somebody say, "Oh yeah, Hunter Thompson is alright." No. You hear them say either, "I love Thompson" or "I hate Thompson." As for me, I love him. I've read many of his books, including The Rum Diary and have seen all the adaptions. This one falls between Where the Buffalo Roam and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in my opinion. It's slightly better then Where the Buffalo Roam, but not quite as good as Fear and Loathing. Our character in this one is Paul Kemp. He is a writer who moves down to Puerto Rico to take a job on a newspaper that is tanking big time. Paul is what you call an alcoholic. He drinks, drinks, and drinks some more. He happens to meet a girl that is taken by a very powerful man in Puerto Rico, who wants to use Paul to help him make some big money. If you know Thompson, you know that his stories aren't very plot oriented, nor are they extremely character driven. There more... substance driven, then anything else. The best thing about The Rum Diary is the cast. Johnny Depp plays Kemp in a return to Thompson role. Then there's a supporting cast of Aaron Rckhart, Michael Rispoli, Giovanni Ribsi, and the extremely beautiful Amber Heard. Their all pretty good. I especially liked Ribsi in a very bizarre, drunken role. His character is really "out there" and he plays "out there" very well. As does Johnny Depp. The Rum Diary isn't a perfect movie, not even close. Adaptions of Thompson books aren't easy to make. The material doesn't make for a straightforward story on screen. The great thing about his works are how chaotic they are. There's nothing sensical going on in them; read and watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for a perfect example of how chaotic his works can be. If you're a fan of Thompson, I think you should be able to get a good amount of enjoyment from this adaption of his debut novel. This isn't a great film, but it is a good deal of fun.
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Boring. Tries too hard to be weird and offbeat. It's got substance at times, but B, Robinson doesn't seem to care. Not stylish enough and most likeyl disappointing to fans of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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.Finally a movie that Johnny Depp does a half way decent job of acting in. About a newspaper reporter that is in P.Rico working for a newspaper whose publication is in English early 1960's. Shows his life and times which are very comical most times. During his travels he meets a beautiful women who is already engaged to a very rich man who is involved in a scheme to buy up land to build hotels/casinos. So should he expose him? 3 1/2 stars
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