The Rum Diary (2011)

Jack and I wanted to like this but sadly found the adaptation of Hunter Thompson's first novel a mishmash, unable to decide if it's a political drama about a newspaperman in 1960 Puerto Rico, an action movie, or a rollicking farce. Jack, who read Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, said that Thompson's writing style is equally disjointed, you should forgive the expression. One of the tag lines on imdb is "One part outrage. One part justice. Three parts rum. Mix well." I think a better blender was needed for the mixing.

I was surprised when I learned that Bruce Robinson directed and adapted Thompson's novel, because I LOVED (caps necessary) his quirky Withnail & I (1987) and especially How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) (he also was Oscar-nominated for writing The Killing Fields (1984) and wrote the excellent Return to Paradise (1988)). Johnny Depp (last covered in these pages in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) gives his all to each genre but can't save the project from the script. More fine actors give what they can, notably Michael Rispoli (Two Family House (2000), Jackie Aprile on The Sopranos, Death to Smoochy (2002)), Aaron Eckhart (covered in Rabbit Hole), Richard Jenkins (I wrote about him in Eat Pray Love), Amber Heard (The Joneses, the now-cancelled series The Playboy Club) whose character Chenault is pronounced sha-NELL, and Giovanni Ribisi (I've missed much of his work, but liked Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) and Avatar, in which he had supporting roles, as well as a series arc on My Name is Earl) who manages to out-swish Depp as a drunken co-worker.

What we did like were the fabulous vintage cars, the beautiful location shots of Puerto Rico, and the slow motion cock fighting (you won't see the violence). You don't need to pay to see this--just wait for its free cable showings and watch for those cars!