Title: The Rum Diary
Director: Bruce Robinson
Do I really have to explain my excitement for this film? I feel like I’ve been waiting so long for it. I swear, I found out about it in 2009. And the novel is one of my favourites. Depp doing anything that involves anything by Hunter S. Thompson cannot be bad. They’re as good a pairing as…. rum and ice. Not necessarily for everyone but as long as you have a taste for it, there’s nothing better.
The fictional novel was written by Thompson in the late 50’s but was only published in 1998. He had spent some time writing for a sports newspaper in Puerto Rico and had been denied a job writing for the San Juan Star, the daily English newspaper. Although The Rum Diary is fictional, the characters were based loosely on the people Thompson had befriended at the Star and their antics and unruliness seem incredibly similar to the non-fiction work he regularly wrote about. The story; Paul Kemp leaves New York for the relaxing islands of Puerto Rico to write for the San Juan Star. He gets into some crazy situations with his co-workers/roommates, Sala and Moburg, and finds himself wondering whether he should take the opportunity, and money, to write a favourable review for one of Sanderson’s skeptical real estate deals. All whilst trying to juggle around his new drinking habit and his love for Sanderson’s lovely lady, Chenault.
The era of the 50’s is always a fun one to play around in. Mainly it’s the fashion that does it for me. I wish I were born in the 50’s strictly to be able to have the clothes. One thing that I could have seen a lot more of was Puerto Rico itself. Perhaps cinematography was low on the list for Robinson, but the rest of the movie looked great. Or maybe it was a budget decision.
Depp’s version of Kemp is a believable representation of a young Thompson. Without the aid of Thompson as a coach for this role, I think he performed it well. I can see bits of Raoul Duke in this character. He’s a very different man in the 50’s, seduced by alcohol rather than drugs, but he certainly has the same tendencies. One surprising role was Giovanni Ribisi as Moburg. I really like Ribisi and he plays the role of a crazed lunatic very well. I also really like Aaron Eckhert and he plays Sanderson, a suave, asshole businessman, very well.
There were a few scenes that I remember in the book that were not included in the movie, but because I generally do things backwards (meaning, I watch the movie then read the book) I now do not expect the movie to be exactly like the book. I’m of the opinion that the book should remain somewhat different in order for you to still enjoy the story, long after the movie’s lost its popularity. And sometimes a story doesn’t translate well to film, so it needs to be altered for the screen. Adapted screenplays are not claiming to be the novel, so I never expect them to be. The ending on the other hand was not as I had remembered it in the book at all. It was open ended and they decided to tie the ends together with a wrap-up text. For a fictional film. That doesn’t work for me. Granted, the movie’s not about Kemp in New York, it’s all about Puerto Rico, so ending it like that worked for the overall feel of the film.
I remember feeling very relaxed when I read the book, like I was in Puerto Rico, but that was probably helped by the fact that I was actually in the Dominican Republic. That’s probably also why I enjoyed the book more than the movie. But c’mon; Johnny Depp with that 50’s style? Sit back and enjoy with a glass of rum on the rocks. You know, if your theatre offers that.
