It sounded good on paper, Johnny Depp playing a fictional Hunter S. Thompson in his pre-gonzo formative years in an adaptation of a Thompson novel set in early 1960s Puerto Rico.
Depp is no stranger to this territory, having played the late journalist in 1998 in another filmic adaptation of one of his iconic books, “Fear and Loathing inLas Vegas.”
But it’s the execution that fails, with the exception of Depp’s performance as Paul Kemp– and a couple of supporting turns from Amber Heard as the vampy love interest and Aaron Eckhart as a smarmy PR guy who greases all the right wheels to line his own pockets.
The story has all the makings of a Mad Men-esque, boozy romp through San Juan, starting with Thompson’s hugely hung over arrival to take a job as a newspaperman at the city’s daily paper, run by a tough but corruptible editor in a newsroom populated by misfits who couldn’t find work anymore in the States.
So far, so good, until those co-workers start to play a key role in the story and take up way too much screen time. One of them is a beyond alcoholic Giovanni Ribisi in a horrendous acting job as an embittered, crazed religion reporter; the other is a sloppy photographer whose entire performance seemed like a bad homage to Danny DeVito.
Both characters take you out of the somewhat engrossing story of how the Eckhart character tries to seduce the Depp character into promoting the island’s pristine oceanfront areas as prime locations for mega-resorts that tear up the environment and displace indigenous people.
All the while, Heard is playing games with both men’s affections and lust in another subplot that brings to life the vivid social scene on the island for statesiders in the early 60s. Throughout, there’s stunning cinematography that could serve as both a travelogue and a fashion and automotive history of the time. Little red Corvette, 1959 version, is enough to make anyone long for one.
As one of the few people who’s seen this film—and Depp has said he doesn’t care about its failings at the box office—you walk out of it really wanting it to have been better and to have more resonance. Instead, it’s more like the morning after having too many Bacardi and Cokes, when you just want to shake that feeling and clear your head.
The Rum Diary, Rated R, Running Time: 2 hours
Directed and written by Bruce Robinson
TAR Rating: 1 Star
