THE RUM DIARY (Bruce Robinson, Film District, 2011)

I was really excited to see this film. It had Johnny Depp in it, it's setting was the Caribbean, I expected the writing to be excellent and according to the previews it had a blonde femme fatale, my favorite. For the first half of THE RUM DIARY (Bruce Robinson, Film District, 2011) I was quite pleased. The narrative had me guessing while being funny and there was enough beautiful shots of Puerto Rico and Amber Heard to keep anyone watching. So what happened? The second half of the film just completely fell apart and I watched this film with two other SC film grads, they thought the same thing. Plot lines went unresolved, the main narrative thrust just vanished, characters just dropped out of the film. What started so well flamed out.

I've never read anything by Hunter Thompson and by my understanding this story is semi-autobiographical. That said, man how kooky was this guys mind? We all have read about his excess and it's on display with the protagonist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). His writing, and the adaptation by Robinson are two very strong points in the film. The writing is excellent, witty and urbane. There were a few moments I could not stop laughing. The second strong aspect of the film was its pure beauty. The cinematography was gorgeous but nothing compared to Amber Heard. She was simply stunning.

In the end, this could have been a really great film if it had been developed further or not left so, unresolved. Which is why I have written my review of the film in the same manner.