The Rum Diary (2011)
Directed by Bruce Robinson
Starring Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart and Amber Heard
An American journalist, played by Depp, takes a job working for a newspaper in Puerto Rico and try to work around the island culture and his own enjoyment of alcohol while trying to be himself.
I don’t have much to say on this film as it wasn’t really my cup of tea. It was a film I wanted to watch but after seeing it there wasn’t much of a story to it and from what there was went very slow with not much happening. The odd bits of comedy helped me along but ultimately failed in making me enjoy the film.
If you want to see this it is up to you. I will leave it to the comments for people who enjoyed this.
Special mention to Amber Heard who looked great in the film.
Film Fact
Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, Josh Hartnett and Nick Nolte were originally slated to appear. Benicio Del Toro was also lined up to direct the film.
thefriedgold 
Read the book it’s bloody great, they totally messed this film up by changing too much, some of the main characters were different, removed or merged into one person. The gritty dirtiness of pretty much ALL the characters in the book has been chucked out the window so the interaction and chemistry between everyone feels more often than not surreal and just weird…
Terry Gilliam translated Fear and Loathing so well it’s almost analogous when you read/watch both versions. It is hard pulling off gonzo stuff but it can definitely be done and Depp’s certainly proved himself a good choice for casting. When Aaron Eckhart gets too much eminence in a film he tends to layer on excessive smarmy Hollywood cheese and forgets to be original. Amber Heard too was just stylized too classy to fit the role in my opinion, probably not her fault to be fair… hit me if I’m wrong but I think in the book she was dating Kemps main friend Yeomen (left out the film) who is a scumbag maniac reporter, she, was a bit of a sleazy immature flaky mess wrapped up in voluptuous curves and drifting around undecided in life.
There was just such a violent, manic and alcoholic humor to the book (Gonzo in a nutshell!) which is what made it great and very fun, the literal heat, stress and over-the-hill angst which create a darker experience also are hard to see and empathize with in this movie. It’s like the legacy Hunter S left was overshadowed to make a more conventional, popular blockbuster which it fails to do anyway, I mean really, what’s the bloody point in that?! especially when you consider Robinson directed With Nail and I, an indisputable cult classic… ah mate, he’s a silly boy for changing his tone.
Yeah I guess I had high hopes and was just left disappointed. Even if I hadn’t read the book I’m sure it’s still a shoddy film, someone will hopefully do a worthwhile remake one day. My first 6 words summarize this film, have a good one,
smash.