Review: 'The Rum Diary'

Johnny Depp is back in the Caribbean, but alas, not as a pirate. In The Rum Diary, Depp is still sampling the booze in great quantities and struggling to stay sober long enough to function in another paradise, in this case the Puerto Rico of 1960.

Here, portraying Paul Kemp, the alter-ego of Hunter S. Thompson, Depp is on shakier ground, and I don’t just mean the post-binge effects of his character’s frequent imbibing of rum and other intoxicants. The film comes off as a slight, mildly amusing and involving romp whose plot machinations do not add up to a satisfying movie-going experience. 

Based on a novel of the same name, The Rum Diary is a kind of prequel to 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but continues Depp’s portrayal of gonzo writer and journalist Thompson. Kemp arrives in Puerto Rico to assume his job as a reporter for the San Juan Star.

He manages to sober up (barely) for this first appearance at work where he is plunked smack down in the middle of high drama, of sorts, as the newspaper struggles to stay afloat and find readership on an island where Americans work and play but are often treated with outright hostility by the natives who do not benefit in any way from their ties to mainland USA.  

The song “I Like to be in America” from Bernstein’s iconic West Side Story resonates with special meaning as the term “ugly American” becomes increasingly relevant to the story at hand.

All the signature visuals are well in place in writer/director Bruce Robinson’s interior shots of slowly rotating ceiling fans, tobacco-stained walls and men in perpetually sweat-stained shirts and crumpled suits. It all very soon becomes déjà-vu all over again as we’ve seen this before in countless and better film noirs of the 40’s by the likes Orson Welles and John Huston. 

There is an air of desperation in trying to make Rum Diary seem fresh and pertinent, but the results are often dismayingly trite and forced. Depp, so good as the cartoonish Jack Sparrow in the Piratefranchise, appears strangely out of his element here. 

I suspect much of the blame lies in the screenplay which struggles unsuccessfully to present Kemp as a serious writer while placing him in a series of over-the-top “Oh no!!” narrow escapes which detract from the skimpy plot elements.

These concern the suspect ambitions of Aaron Eckhart as Hal Sanderson who involves Kemp in his suspect ambitions to spoil the gorgeous island with various development plans. Sanderson lives the good life complete with luxurious beach villa, sports cars and one incredibly gorgeous girlfriend with the unlikely name of Chenault, played to maximum sexual velocity by Amber Heard. Ms. Heard is one to watch and Kemp falls for her charms and their scenes together briefly provide much needed heat.

Notable and suitably alcohol-besotted performances are given by Kemp’s co-workers, Sala (Michael Rispoli) and, especially, Giovanni Ribisi as Moburg, a character so under the influence 24/7 that just seeing him stand erect comes off as a supreme triumph of the will.

Jeff Klayman is an award-winning playwright whose works have been produced in New York, Los Angeles and London. He also wrote the screenplay for the independent film Adios, Ernesto, directed by Mervyn Willis.