The Rum Diary: Film Review

Check “The Rum Diary” official website for more info!

Your opinion of The Rum Diary will largely hinge, I believe, on your opinion of the man whose life story is the basis of the movie’s plot: journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, a man who was uniquely American and still anything but what one thinks of as the quintessential 1960s American man (of course, quintessence is a difficult thing to put one’s finger on, but that’s a separate discussion).

The film’s story is not precisely based on Thompson’s life, but rather inspired by certain events he experienced in Puerto Rico in the 1960s. It also helps to know that the film was made solely because its star, Johnny Depp, has an abiding affinity for Thompson and is primarily responsible for the publication of the novel itself. For Depp and his brethren, Thompson territory is hallowed territory.

Which is why you might come out of the film thinking it’s been handled with almost too much reverence. Any film inspired by real people and real events succeeds only when the story is willing to look in all the crevices and secret corners, and fully illuminates the subject in all of its glory and gruesomeness. Rum Diary falls short in the respect, painting a surprisingly one dimensional portrait of a man whose larger-than-life qualities are magnified and whose shortcomings are transferred onto other characters (in this instance, Sanderson, played by Aaron Eckhart).

Yes, the old adage says, “Print the legend, not the history,” but here we have a legend that doesn’t seem to be sure itself of its own history. The same cannot be said of Terry Gilliam’s 1988 feature, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, also based on Thompson’s writings and starring Johnny Depp.

The story goes like this: Paul Kemp (Depp) is bored with the conventions of Eisenhower era America and decides to take his writing prowess to San Juan where he begins to write for a local paper. Soon, he falls in with Sala (Michael Rispoli) and begins to enjoy life as a professional ingester of rum. He is also hired by dastardly American developer Sanderson (Eckhart) whose greatest ambition is to transform Puerto Rico into a tourist haven for wealthy Americans. Kemp, naturally, falls for Sanderson’s beautiful lady companion, Chenault, played by Amber Heard.

Charged with painting a glowing picture of Sanderson’s visions with his words, Kemp is soon faced with the dilemma of how he wishes to utilize the power of his pen/typewriter: to perpetuate the blind greed of a capitalist or to challenge what most would term a foreign and unwelcome attempt at the 20th century version of Manifest Destiny? No prizes for guessing how it ends.

For fans of Thompson’s writing, the film may suffice as a jolly joyride through his early years as a writer. Fans of Depp, however, may find themselves remiss by how much his attempts to be zany and wild (and free of convention) ends up feeling like Captain Jack Comes to Puerto Rico. While far from disappointing, there is simply too much Jack Sparrow in Depp’s incarnation of Thompson. Still, it’s worth a peek.