The Rum Diary (2011)

American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1960s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.

Director:

Bruce Robinson

Writers:

Bruce Robinson (screenplay), Hunter S. Thompson (novel)

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Kemp
Aaron Eckhart	...	Sanderson
Michael Rispoli	...	Sala
Amber Heard	...	Chenault
Richard Jenkins	...	Lotterman
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Moberg
Amaury Nolasco	...	Segarra
Marshall Bell	...	Donovan
Bill Smitrovich	...	Mr. Zimburger
Julian Holloway	...	Wolsley
Bruno Irizarry	...	Lazar
Enzo Cilenti	...	Digby
Aaron Lustig	...	Monk
Tisuby González	...	Rosy
Natalia Rivera	...	Chenault's Friend

Storyline

Hard-drinking journalist Paul Kemp takes a job at a besieged newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His volatile editor, Lotterman, assigns him to tourist pieces and horoscopes, but promises more. Paul rooms with Sala, an aging and equally alcoholic reporter, in a rundown flat. Sanderson, a wealthy entrepreneur, hires Paul to flack for a group of investors who plan to buy an island near the capital and build a resort. Sanderson's girl-friend, the beguiling Chenault, bats her eyes at Paul. His loyalties face challenges when he and Sala get in trouble with locals, when a Carnival dance enrages Sanderson, and when the paper hits the skids. Is the solution always alcohol?

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Plot Keywords:

newspaper | journalist | island | puerto rico | investor | 

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Taglines:

One part outrage. One part justice. Three parts rum. Mix well.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, brief drug use and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish German

Release Date:

28 October 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary

Filming Locations:

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,135,369 (USA) (28 October 2011)

Gross:

$13,100,042 (USA) (16 December 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

GK Films, Infinitum Nihil, FilmEngine

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, Josh Hartnett and Nick Nolte were originally slated to appear.

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Goofs

A Jacuzzi was referred to just before Kemp signed the contract. The movie took place in 1960 and the Jacuzzi wasn't invented until 1968.

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Quotes

Moburg: [being examined] Is it Clap?
Paul Kemp: [grimacing] A standing ovation.

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Connections

Follows Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

User Reviews

Great scenes, great setting, decent story, mediocre direction...

Rum Diary (2011)

If you're looking for the craziness of later Hunter S. Thompson, you'll find shreds of it here. In a way this is a more cogent movie than say "Fear and Loathing…" but it's also a bit prosaic beneath the wilder stuff that peppers the surface. Johnny Depp stars and runs the show in his usual strong if uninspired way as a new, hard-drinking reporter with a failing English language newspaper in Puerto Rico.

There is a true surface here that's pretty amazing--the cars, the low down rot of the apartments, the racism between the rich white Americans and the indigenous Puerto Ricans. The depth you might expect and want here is slim, however, even though all the pieces are in play for a great drama--a charming troubled writer in a land filled with prejudice and violence and great natural beauty. It pushes the clichés too hard, and it's generally agreed (even by Thompson) that the material is weak and "rambling." The movie doesn't rearrange it enough to make it work.

You can in a way watch this for those surfaces, if you don't need too much more. There are several secondary characters who do their best to be a bit insane, including Giovanni Ribisi as a drugged out waif of a reporter, something like what Thompson himself might have become later in life. (See of course the Depp in the imperfect 1998 "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for a sense of the famous freewheeling selfish addled sometimes brilliant Thompson.)

The director here also adapted Thompson's book and if he gets the credit for the nice ambiance of the film he also gets the burden of how clunky, choppy, and sometimes slow it is, even with such exciting material. It's not a horror, it's watchable, but you'll flag here and there. Even the end, without giving a thing away, is a bit deflating.