No surprise here. Johnny Depp stars again in a very strange, off the beaten path movie, The Rum Diary. Up front, this is not a movie that many young Depp fans are going to be impressed with. This is really grown up movie.
TRD takes place in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1960. Depp is Paul. Paul is a young writer that lands a job at San Juan's only newspaper. There he meets a bunch of very strange fellow writers, and co-workers at the paper, all from America too. They pretty much spend all of their time drinking entirely too much high powered rum and doing all kinds of recreational drugs, and stagger around the island aimlessly.
Somehow this band of drunks ends up spending time with some of the most vile people and some of the most successful people on the island. Paul even falls in with a bunch of crooks, bent on destroying the Caribbean beauty by developing beautiful, virgin islands with hotels and casinos. After all that goes wrong Paul decides to expose these criminals in the struggling paper, but will he get the chance?
Right now you are saying, "What kind of movie is this!?" And that's valid. This movie is very complicated to explain. But then again, it's a Depp movie. Casual movie goers may actually hate this movie. Serious movie goers may find some charm, and humor. There are some very quirky, funny scenes. But much of this will go unexplained to many, and some will feel like this is a waste of time. I am somewhere in between, but leaning towards a waste of time.
I did laugh out loud a few times, and I rather enjoyed the fantastic retro - Caribbean musical soundtrack. This did have the feel of a movie from the 1960's at times, and that was cool. Was also treated to one of the great supporting performances of the year in Michael Rispoli, who was splendid as Sala, Paul's good friend. He was great. But I don't think he can save this.
Depp again show great versatility. Depp can pull off the Pirates series for young fans and families, and he can make the formula flicks occasionally too to pay the bills. He is terrific in his animated performances like Rango, and still find time to be really "out there" like this one. He truly is gifted, and attacks all roles head on.
This is going to be just way too far out there for many. A story that is strange, and at times seemingly not connected. And in the end, it just seems to not really go anywhere worth going. But there are some giggles along the way.
The Rum Diary. Certainly not one of my favorites. But I've certainly spent worse afternoons.
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