The Rum Diary and Hunter S. Thompson

The Rum Diary was a rampant drink binged infused social commentary on what Hunter S. Thompson perceived in the 1960's. It was years after Thompson's death that it was adapted into a screenplay featuring Johnny Depp as the protagonist, Paul Kemp. I was slightly recalcitrant to watch this movie as I felt that the book somewhat lacked a formatted plot, although it was permeated with epiphanies and the cliche Gonzo style Thompson so originally adopted as his own. The scene is set in an almost ethereal conflation of the secluded beach in the Danny Boyle directed "The Beach" and a gritty Bounty advert, which evokes an exceptionally tropical setting with the linen fabrics blowing off of the back of each actor and actress. The film begins with Kemp (Depp) obviously hungover in a slovenly state with his touselled hair commanding the screen as always. The film then segues into his journalistic endeavours, whilst following a steady subplot in the film as Kemp finds himself involved in the unscrupulous business of Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckhart). Kemp inevitably falls for Sanderson's femme fatal, played by Amber Heard, who in her own right deserves a free hand whilst watching the film and horny chubby. Amongst the hullabaloo of living in a dilapitated building in Puerto Rico with a portly co-worker and a pseudo neo-nazi listening to derisive records of Hitler, the story follows Kemp on his journey as a struggling journalist trying to find his voice for his generation and the amor his heart pines for in such surrounding influenced by romance and cognizant lust. Depp's portrayal of a more precocious Thompson (as opposed to the Thompson in Fear and Loathing) is somewhat intriguing as he commands presence on screen, but the movie still lacks a dense plot with a somewhat aimless journey. Perhaps an aimless journey is the point of the story in the first place, which was contingent on Thompson's barbaric ramblings as he attempted to find that "voice". The highlights of the film for me were when Kemp quipped, "some men know the price of everything, yet the value of nothing", and also when Amber Heard intruded upon Kemp's shower to copulate with him. Final (extraneous) note: Giovanni Ribisi who plays Moberg in the film is an exaggerated incarnation of the wheeling and dealing character played by Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy, which enhances the films comical value.