Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Python Hyena Rum Diary (2011): Dir: Bruce Robinson / Cast: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Giovanni Ribisi: Based on Hunter S. Thompson's first book, here we have career seen through the lens of alcohol and narcotics. Johnny Depp play journalist Paul Kemp who awakens in Puerto Rico to start a job with a failing magazine. At first he is reduced to stories regarding overweight tourists at bowling alleys but before long he is addressed to draw favor for a scheme involving the building of a hotel on an island off Puerto Rico. This is Depp's second performance as Thompson after portraying him as Raoul Duke in the underrated Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Here he is drawn out on alcohol where humour plays a part, but he grows suspicious when the poor are degraded and the rich only dominate. Arron Eckhart plays Hal Sanderson, a crooked businessman who seeks Kemp's services. He mistreats the poor but bails Kemp and Sale out when the two land in court after erupting a mob at a restaurant. Michael Rispoli steals his moments as magazine photographer Sale who allows Kemp shelter in his broken down residence. Sale is involved in cock fighting for cash and his push start vehicle becomes one massive sight joke. Giovanni Ribisi also surfaces as a lowlife reporter strutting around dressed in rags. The big disappointment is Amber Heard as Sanderson's girlfriend Chenault who is basically a romantic tease for Kemp, and her behavior renders her less than sympathetic. It is another bizarre observation through the eyes and liquor glass of the great writer himself. Score: 8 ½ / 10

Barbouzes As others have observed, it is not useful to review this movie on whether it follows or not the book that inspired it. We are reviewing a movie, and my opinion on any movie is shaped by these questions: "Is is engaging? Is it moving without pandering? Is it cinematographically driven? Do I learn something from the story? Do I feel smarter after watching it? Did I root for any character in the script? Is it entertaining in an intelligent way?" I must respond yes to all of that for Rum Diary. The script did suffer from too fast- or too flat- an ending, but it kept me engaged throughout and up to the last 3 minutes. There were comic moments, moments of beauty, and a very realistic thread. The atmosphere is superbly rendered: I could feel the sweat and the threats, and I could relate to the politics at stake. The plot lives by the Oscar Wilde line quoted by the Johnny Depp character at some point: "Some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." I subscribe to that line, rooted for our lost journalist to find his way, and I enjoyed the escape for 90 min into a lush tropical 60s landscape.

FilmBuff1994 The Rum Diary is a decent movie with a good storyline and a talented cast. The films plot is all over the place and it is certainly hard to follow at times, the characters are quite strange and sadly not likable enough for me to have any bit of care for them. The cast is very good and Johnny Depp certainly delivers a great performance, like he always does, but they simply weren't enough to help this movie become anything memorable or really worth watching. It had a lot of potential, but the Rum Diary mostly let me down and because of that I can only recommend it if you ever see it on television and have some time to kill. An author moves to Puerto Rico hoping to develop a more commercial writing style, but he instead gets mixed up in local politics. Best Performance: Johnny Depp

paul2001sw-1 Bruce Robinson directed the acclaimed cult movie 'Withnail and I'; Johnny Depp starred in the (also celebrated but, in my opinion, virtually unwatchable) film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. The idea that the former should direct the latter in another of Thompson's stories, 'The Rum Diary', is this either inspired or drearily predictable. In fact, it hasn't turned out too badly, a comedy drama with both elements handled reasonably well, although the story lacks real punch, the central character leaves it with a certain sense of moral purpose, but until that point, the plot basically ambles along for incidental entertainment value only. As with 'Fear and Loathing', a brief excerpt from Thompson's own writing is lent to the film to imbue with moral seriousness at the appropriate point (and it's strange that in both movies, moral seriousness is what the reprobate Thompson is quoted to invoke). Interestingly, this was Robinson's first film as a director for 19 years and as a screenwriter for 12; for someone so out of practice, it's not a bad effort.