Rum Diary [Blu-Ray]

Considering the highly critical success of cult film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, one would have thought the release of The Rum Diary, another adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's work starring Johnny Depp, would have garnered far more attention. However, after viewing the hipster-happy film, it's clear it flew under the radar for a reason: its fairly mediocre execution. In the movie, Johnny Depp plays Kemp, an alcoholic, jaded and uninspired journalist in 1960 who decides to move to Puerto Rico to work for a small, failing newspaper. While trying to cover a hard-hitting story, Kemp gets offered a lucrative job by Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a smooth-talking, Communist-loathing businessman. Although Sanderson stands for everything Kemp loathes, he quickly gets sucked into Sanderson's world after falling for his fiancée, Chenault (Amber Heard), ending up in more trouble than he bargained for in between his excessive rum binges. While the first half of The Rum Diary plays like a comical version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for dummies," featuring many entertaining and drunken hi-jinx involving Kemp and his eccentric colleagues (played by Michael Rispoli and an almost unrecognizable Giovanni Ribisi), it takes a disappointing turn in the second act, with the film focusing far too much on the unneeded love story involving Kemp and Chenault's characters. If it had focused more of its energy on the surreal and wild nature Hunter S. Thompson's books usually display, rather than concentrating on providing viewers with mainstream eye-candy, then writer/director Bruce Robinson's vision would have been far more effective. The Blu-Ray features cast and crew interviews and aside from Depp's contribution, the interviews are as uneven as the movie.