Director: Bruce Robinson
Year: 2011
Stars: Johnny Depp, Giovanni Ribisi
I wasn't sure exactly how much to expect from this movie. I had a suspicion that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as I usually enjoy Johnny Depp movies - primarily because I knew it was, in some way, connected with Hunter S. Thompson, and I just don't get him. Or the fascination Johnny Depp seems to have with him.
Luckily, The Rum Diary was better than I was expecting. It tells the story of Paul Kemp (Depp), who is a novelist, but ends up as a reporter working for a newspaper in Puerto Rico in the 1960s. He's an alcoholic (as are all the other newspaper writers), but he's an alcoholic with morals.
The story is based on a book by Hunter S. Thompson, and for the most part is an enjoyable enough tale. The pity comes with the ending, which doesn't so much go out with a bang as just sort of fade away in a "well, life goes on, doesn't it?" shrug. I have a suspicion this is the fault of the filmmakers, rather than the novelist, as the postscript tells us what happens to Paul Kemp after he leaves Puerto Rico.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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