The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp

6/23/2015

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Comeback Movie of the Year (Bruce Robinson and Johnny Depp)

Johnny Depp looks dapper on this poster for Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary

Paul Kemp is a failed writer, who has taken a job as a journalist on the English-language newspaper in Puerto Rico. One of the island's young rich men offers him something else, but Kemp is more interested in the man's girlfriend...

The Rum Diary features Johnny Depp's (From Hell (2001)) probably best performance since The Libertine (2004), (if we don't count his second run as Cap. Jack Sparrow in the entertaining first sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).) - He's on fire here!
The film is the second adaptation of a book by Hunter S. Thompson, following Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), which also starred Depp in the leading gonzo journalist role. Rum Diary is adapted and directed by another wild English director, Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I (1987)), and it's the first film he has directed in 19 years! (Ever since Jennifer 8 (1992)).
At first I was a little disappointed about Robinson's approach to the material, which feels about 90% more sober, straight and downplayed compared to Gilliam's great, wacky film.
But then fairly soon this wildly enjoyable third world adventure took a solid grip in me anyway, especially due to the originality of the story and the excellent actors at play in it: Michael Rispoli (Rob the Mob (2014)) as Kemp's buddy Sala; Giovanni Ribisi (Ted (2012)) is hysterical as an alcoholic; Richard Jenkins (The Kingdom (2007)) is perfect as a disillusioned, wig-bearing editor; Amber Heard (Pineapple Express (2008)) is dreamy; Aaron Eckhart (Any Given Sunday (1999)) is infuriating as a bona fide douche-bag, and Bill Smitrovich (Eagle Eye (2008)) is larger-than-life as another total asshole. - They all make The Rum Diary a very entertaining, good time.

Related posts:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch the funny trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 23.9 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The Rum Diary came out nearly 2½ years after its production. Robinson has related that he drank while writing the script and also during the shoot, which was done on location in Puerto Rico. The film opened to a weak 5.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 13.1 mil. $ (55 % of the total gross) and was greeted by lukewarm reviews. It stands as one of several very costly flops in Depp's recent track record as a starring actor (Dark Shadows (2012), The Lone Ranger (2013), Transcendence (2014), and Mortdecai (2015) all contribute to the regrettable statistics), but he has still said that he is interested in playing the lead in yet another of his late friend Thompson's novels. Film Excess hopes to see him back in B.O. shape later this year in Barry Levinson's highly anticipated gangster movie Black Mass.]

What do you think of The Rum Diary?
Are you eager to see Depp play Whitey Bulger in Black Mass (2015)?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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6/23/2015

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp

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