Review by Bob Ignizio
It's tempting to view THE RUM DIARY as a sort of prequel to Johnny Depp's previous turn in a Hunter S. Thompson adaptation, Terry Gilliam's FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Even though Depp is ostensibly playing a different character here in the form of alcoholic newspaperman (kind of a redundancy) Paul Kemp, he's still channeling Thompson for his performance just as he did in FEAR. It would have been nice to see Benecio del Toro return as well (he was attached to the film at one time), but Michael Rispoli does a good job in his stead as Kemp's fellow journalist Sala.
The film is set in Peurto Rico in the late fifties, and the newspaper Kemp and Sala work for, the San Juan Star, is a second rate rag at best. The paper's editor, Lotterman (Richard Jenkins) seemingly expects big things of Kemp, but that doesn't include publishing articles that might agitate the big corporations who are exploiting the tiny island (and who pay the paper's bills with their ads). Despite the early stirrings of a social conscience, Kemp doesn't push back too hard because, hey, it's a paycheck. That, and the novels he's tried to write have so far gone nowhere due to Kemp's inability to find his voice.
