70/100 (120 min, 2011)Plot: American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s 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, Giovanni Ribisi and Aaron Eckhart
Love and Inspiration in Puerto Rico
"Do not confuse love with lust, nor drunkenness with judgment."
When "The Rum Diary" opened in theatres last year it got terrible reviews and ended up being a box office failure. It's a real shame, because the movie contrary to what many critics written about it, is quirky, funny and entertaining. It is also the first good movie Depp did since..."Parnassus" where he appeared for few minutes. I'm excluding his voice work for "Rango" this year - "Rango" was tons of fun and as "The Rum Diary" has references to cult classic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". In "The Rum Diary" case it is to be expected - it has ties to Hunter S. Thompson - the movie is based on his long lost novel of the same title.
"The Rum Diary" was written by Hunter S. Thompson in the late fifties. However, it was not released until 1998, when Johnny Depp discovered the unpublished manuscript in the basement of Thompson's house, Owl Farm, in Woody Creek, Colorado. Depp was living with Thompson at the time in preparation for his role as Raoul Duke in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". It was Depp who proved to be instrumental in getting "The Rum Diary" published and everntually getting the movie based on it made.
