The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary

I approach this review with caution.  There is no actor I respect more than Johnny Depp.  I will see any movie that he is in whether it looks like something I want to see or not.  Depp’s literary idol and personal friend was the late Hunter S. Thompson and he has been trying to get this movie made since before he was Captain Jack Sparrow.  It finally got made, but this movie will only find a niche market as it takes a certain type of person to appreciate Hunter S. Thompson (and that kind is rapidly disappearing). Thompson harkens back to the age of the hippie counter culture of the early 1960’s and his stories glorify excessive drug abuse and anti-establishment behavior.  The characters don’t really connect to modern sensibilities and there is very little that seems noble about a story that derives most of it’s nobility from drug abuse and poverty.

The Rum Diary is about a down and out writer, Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp), who departs the fast-paced capitalistic society of late Eisenhower era New York City for the pristine sunshine and beaches of Puerto Rico.  Paul fits right in as a writer for the local San Juan Star newspaper run by the downtrodden editor, Lotterman (veteran character actor Richard Jenkins is always a pleasure).  It’s a newspaper circling the drain and staffed by a ragtag group of reporters and writers who have reached their wits end and given up on life.  They spend their days drinking and getting high as they see their lives unraveling, but have no drive to stop it.  Puerto Rico is shown as the last stop for people who have no more options in life (a little insulting and arrogant I thought).  Thompson sees nobility in this type of despair and self abuse.

Kemp crosses path with a local kept woman name Chenault (played with arian protestant beauty by Amber Heard).  Chenault’s benefactor is a local developer named Sanderson (played with equal arian disdain by Aaron Eckhart).  It is Sanderson’s goal to develop the island into a tourist paradise at the expense of the local proletariat.  The story is straight out of the Marxist handbook, while much more impactful in the sixties, almost seems cliche and hollow (if not naive) in today’s world.  Sanderson strikes up an unlikely friendship with Kemp and hires him to write favorable articles about his plans for developing the island.   

Kemp continues to dwell in his  bottom feeder world as he makes friends with his fellow journalists.  Each of his friends are a character study in trying to out despair the other. The King of rock bottom is Moburg (played by another actor I revere, Giovanni Ribisi).  Moburg is a borderline street person who shows up to the newspaper offices only occasionally to collect his paycheck.  Moburg is so drug addled that he spends his day trying find extreme new ways to get high.  His performance is meant to be comic relief  (and it is often amusing), but glorifying this type of extreme drug abuse, while not necessarily offending my sensibilities,  I don’t find it appealing in a protagonist.  Ribisi is a fantastic actor and I have great admiration for his performance here despite my misgivings. Chenault’s character is played generically sexy.  She struggles with living a life of privilege (or is she a bored and spoiled socialite) and Kemp tempts her from her kept lifestyle by his supposedly more noble life of hangovers and hovel living.  

I have no problem with political movies that have agendas I don’t agree with.  As long as they are good, I can still enjoy them. The Motorcycle Diaries (semi-interesting that both these movies have ‘diary’ in the title) is a perfect example of a film that isn’t about Marxism directly, but it definitely gives it a sympathetic nod.  It was a fantastic and beautifully made film in which I didn’t necessarily agree with its’ politics, but admired the film greatly.  The Rum Diary not only does not make it’s case, but it is just downright boring.  I find nothing noble about people wallowing in self degradation and addiction and I find nothing inherently evil about other people striving to develop impoverished areas through Capitalism.  As far as I’m concerned it’s a social argument that’s long over (except maybe in California).  

Johnny Depp still remains one of my favorite actors and this film does show case some of his incredible talent.  I admire his devotion to getting a pet project made.  Other than that, this will be a quickly forgotten film that might only find life in a niche DVD market, much like the other Thompson/Depp collaboration; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  I considered this as a 2 hour waste of time that I will never get back.  At the very least, they could have show cased the beauty of Puerto Rico.   A missed opportunity.

I rate this film * star.

I gave it a star because I’m giving the film the benefit of a doubt for the several times I drifted off.