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> REVIEW

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The Rum Diary (2011)

 

Absolutely nothing in moderation…

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By Conor Hunter | November 2011

 

 

DIRECTOR: Bruce Robinson

WRITER(s): Bruce Robinson/Hunter S. Thompson (source)

 

It may be nineteen years since Bruce Robinson last directed a film, but he certainly hasn’t lost his touch.  The Rum Diary effortlessly mixes comedy, action and political commentary, all shot in front of the scenic backdrop of 1950′s Puerto Rico.  Robinson conjures beautiful compositions of sandy beaches, cock-fighting and the poverty of the local culture, deftly utilising mis-en-scène to create humour and tension alike.

 

Johnny Depp too has slipped back into his caricature persona of Hunter S. Thompson with remarkable ease, delivering the script’s comedic lines with his usual cool and deadpan swagger.  However, while his performance is as effective as ever, at the age of forty-eight Depp seems just a touch too old for the part.

 

Hunter S. Thompson wrote The Rum Diary at twenty-two.  His semi-autobiographical protagonist Paul Kemp was a young and rebellious writer, shaking up the old ways of the newspaper, not an ageing alcoholic deadbeat, sporting crow’s feet and reluctance towards drink.

 

There is little chemistry between Depp and love-interest Amber Heard.  While their first meeting ends with an excellently delivered aside from Depp, the more we see them on-screen together, the more uncomfortable it feels (not helped by the excruciatingly explicit romantic music striking up whenever Heard’s character appears).  Depp has never been famous for delivering romantic chemistry.  In fact, many of his most famous roles are remarkably asexual characters.  All things considered, one can’t help feeling that he may have been more suited to playing the comic-relief character of Moberg (though Giovanni Ribisi does a fine job).

 

The film boasts an impressive supporting cast.  Depp’s chemistry with Michael Rispoli, playing newspaper photographer Bob Sala, is far more natural than with Heard.  They share a flat with Ribisi’s Moberg, an alcoholic Swedish crime reporter who has a bizarre fascination with Adolf Hitler, and the scenes between the three create the same kind of character-driven comedy that propelled Withnail & I into cult status. While Aaron Eckhart plays the straight-laced boyfriend of the love-interest with an odious level of charm and charisma.

 

One of the film’s most interesting scenes occurs when Paul and Bob take LSD for the first time.  Unlike Terry Gilliam, Robinson films the majority of the trip with an external focus, eschewing blood-stained floors and people with the faces of lizards for the depiction of two lost men wandering around a harbour looking at lobsters.  In fact, the one instance where Robinson does attempt to portray the effects of the drug from the users’ perspective feels unnecessary, not least because of the intrusive, low-quality of the computer graphics involved.

 

The last act stutters and the final lines of text explaining what happens to Depp’s Kemp are extremely glib and give the impression the Robinson and co were perhaps reluctant to sustain the end’s pessimistic tone.

 

 

Script…………………………………………………………………………………………….

 

Robinson briefly resumed drinking in order to write the script.  While the

majority of this is in keeping with the tone of the original text, there’s a certain

lack of the anger, nihilism and hedonism of a true alcoholic.  3

 

Direction………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

The film is nothing short of beautiful to look at.  Hopefully we won’t have to wait another nineteen years until Robinson’s next outing.  4

 

Verdict…………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

Beautiful direction and great performances, but the film doesn’t quite live up to

the hype surrounding the names involved and falls short of the Hunter’s original source.  3

 

 

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