After watching “The Rum Diary,” I find that the funniest thing about the movie is the blurb on the front of the box: “This is the most fun I’ve had watching Johnny Depp in years.” Whoever wrote that either received a nice under-the-table bribe or the only Depp movie he has watched in a while was “The Tourist.”
“The Rum Diary” is the story of Paul Kemp. After taking a freelance position at a small paper in Puerto Rico, Paul becomes embroiled in an illegal real estate scam. To make matters worse, Paul falls for the fiancee of the very man who is running the scam. Now Paul must decide whether to take blow the scandal right open or drown his sorrows at the bottom of a rum bottle. Which will he choose?
I have to say I’m just not sure what some of these big-name actors are thinking when they read scripts, if they do indeed read them. It’s probably because they can’t stop counting the zeroes on their paychecks. Johnny Depp is one of the biggest names in Hollywood right now and has been for some time, but he seems to have gotten lazy. His last few efforts have been mediocre at best. It pains me to say that because I am a fan of his, but he just seems to make his way through the film haphazardly and his Paul Kemp is no different.
Aaron Eckhart plays Sanderson, the corporate evildoer, well enough, but lacks the face time to really develop his character into anything substantial. Amber Heard is just thrown in the mix as eye candy and she does that quite well, but the "secret" romance, if you can even call it that, between Depp and Heard is lackluster.
“The Rum Diary” is based off of an early Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name, and I believe there is a reason that he buried the novel away and forgot about it. Throughout the whole film, nothing of importance or substance ever happens. I’m guessing this was one of the few pieces Thompson completed while completely sober or maybe “The Rum Diary” is just completely dull compared to “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” The script has the problem of having way too many stories going on at once and none of them getting the focus they need.
The Blu-ray comes with very skimpy features, and my guess is that they are just as dull and pointless as the movie itself.
Unless you’re a huge fan of Hunter S. Thompson, I would avoid this movie like the plague.
Film: 1 Yap Extras: 2 Yaps