THE RUM DIARY FINALLY GETS AROUND TO EXTOL EXPOSÉ JOURNALISM
Dedicated in final titles to a fictional crusading New York journalist, The Rum Diary portrays a Paul Kemp (played by Johnny Depp) as an alcoholic unpublished novelist who arrives in Puerto Rico to work on a failing newspaper in 1960. Based on a semiautobiographical story written early in the career of famous novelist and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, which Depp found unpublished among Thompson’s manuscripts, the story begins with Kemp uninterested in controlling his cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption and ends with Kemp trying to stop a developer named Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckhart) from exploiting the natural beauty of the islands for personal gain. Director Bruce Robinson writes the screenplay based on the novel, which was finally published in 1998. The story consists of a series of drunken incidents that ultimately awaken Kemp to the evil ways of capitalist Sanderson. But a film based on the real biography of Thompson, who has thus far inspired nine documentaries about his fascinating life, might be much more interesting than The Rum Diary, which will resonate with dissolute writers more than the general public. MH