The Rum Diary: "How Does Anybody Drink 161 Miniatures"

Director: Bruce Robinson
Writer:    Bruce Robinson
Starring: Johnny Depp
               Amber Heard
               Aaron Eckhart
               Michael Rispoli
               Richard Jenkins
               Giovanni Ribisi

Rating:    **

Release Date:
11/11/11

Based on Hunter S. Thompson's novel, comes a bland and uninteresting movie, starring the usually exciting and interesting Johnny Depp.

When journalist Paul Kemp (Depp) lands in the gorgeous Puerto Rico in the 50s, he finds himself employed by the mean spirited editor Edward Lotterman (Jenkins). He runs a suffering local newspaper that he uses to keep the "American Dream" alive in a bid to keep a tight grip on the masses. Kemp's writing skills are also desirable to the suave Sanderson (Eckhart), a powerful businessman who with his brutal bloodthirsty scheming capitalists, wouldn’t hesitate for a split second to destroy the island before sucking it dry, right down to the last penny. Sanderson sees Paul as a essential part in his PR machine for a life changing hotel project that will completely ruin a pristine coast, while Paul finds himself unfortunately attracted to  Sanderson's care free fiancé Chenault (Heard) whom he met by accident during a moonlit boat ride.

Confusion, Drunkenness, Insanity, Surrealism. These are the elements that are forced upon you in small and random bursts, but it never really has an effect on you, or makes you sit up and listen. Most of the confusion, surrealism and drunkenness is seen whilst Kemp is with his colleague/friend/local cockfighter Bob Sala (Rispoli), and the deranged crime/religious affairs correspondent Moburg (Ribisi), while his madness is shown in Kemp’s forward-thinking, though somewhat overly confident, behavior towards the end of the film.

While the writing tries, and occasionally succeeds at being funny, the pacing is slow and never meets up with Depp's quick personality. However, Ribisi often overshadows the passive Depp as drunkard Moburg, who among countless other things is devoted to a voodoo practicing hermaphrodite, and a possible fan of Hitler himself. But at the same time, the film isn't quite a complete shambolic mess. As I said before, the writing is amusing and Ribisi puts up a short but noteworthy performance, but overall, The Rum Diary falls short of expectations. It is out this coming Friday, the 11th November, but I think it's worth waiting for the DVD or TV release.




The Rum Diary - Trailer

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