Watching first “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and now “The Rum Diary,” one wonders how Hunter S. Thompson managed to make it to 67. Both films star Johnny Depp as an alter-ego of the first gonzo journalist, who seems to have ingested more alcohol and illicit drugs than is humanly possible. Not only that, but he did so while helping to invent a new genre — admittedly, one that seemed to rely on the hijinks that came out of his habits. Thompson published “The Rum Diary” in 1998, seven years before his death but more than 30 years after it was written. It centers on a familiar figure, the would-be novelist forced to make money through lowbrow journalism. In this case, the novel’s author would make his name through his second choice. Though Thompson’s adventures always seemed more the stuff of fiction.
Which makes for a wild ride at the movies. “The Rum Diary,” I’m told by someone who would know, features one of the truest approximations on film of what it’s like to be on an acid trip. That scene, in which Depp’s Paul Kemp stares in disbelief at sidekick Bob Sala (Michael Rispoli) and his ever-growing tongue, had a preview audience howling.
| ON SCREEN |
| ‘The Rum Diary’ |
| » Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars |
| » Starring: Johnny Depp, Michael Rispoli, Aaron Eckhart |
| » Director: Bruce Robinson |
| » Rated: R for language, brief drug use, and sexuality |
| » Running time: 120 minutes |
Yet there’s more to Thompson than his dangerous urge to push boundaries, both physical and political. Bruce Robinson, the writer-director of the cult classic “Withnail and I” whom Depp lured out of retirement, hints at the method that underlies the writer’s madness. But he only hints — and in the most literal way. “The Rum Diary,” then, serves as a poor encomium to a singular writer.
Kemp, with a couple unpublished novels to his name, makes his way to Puerto Rico to work for the English-language daily the San Juan Star. His editor is as cynical as you’d expect a man bought and paid for by a banker to be. His co-workers, including the perhaps literally insane Moburg, are as off-the-hook as you’d expect writer-expatriates to be.
Nobody but Kemp, in fact, is anything but a caricature. Not Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a bigtime businessman who tries to buy and pay for Kemp. Not Chenault (Amber Heard), Sanderson’s girlfriend and the woman for whom Kemp falls at first sight. Kemp walks through San Juan and sees natives starving while Yankees drive around their beautiful, now-paved island in fast cars. “The Rum Diary,” as seen by Robinson, is the story of an idealist made cynic. It’s as if Thompson never brought anything new to the world in his work — but he did.
Still, there’s enough of his voice here — the one he spends the film trying to discover — to make the film worth watching. Where else will you find a literary adaptation this year that features a witch doctor, cockfighting, and men watching Richard Nixon on television? Thompson was a young man when he went to Puerto Rico, and his book is about a young man looking for his purpose.
Depp is by no means a young man, but he’s preternaturally well preserved. He took a pay cut to make this labor of love about a man who learns whether he’d like to make his money the right way or the wrong way. Depp must be rich enough with his checks from the “Pirates” franchise. Let’s hope he’s learned something here, and continues to do good.
