Johnny Depp has once again immersed himself in the bizarro world of Hunter S. Thompson.
In The Rum Diary, the Oscar nominee plays journalist Paul Kemp, a New Yorker who heads down to Puerto Rico to work for a San Juan newspaper and ends up on a series of trippy adventures thanks to a blond vixen (Amber Heard), her shady boyfriend (Aaron Eckhart) and, go figure, some abnormally high-proof rum.
And, he finds a story, much to the concern of his editor, played by Richard Jenkins.
Maybe if everyone he met weren't so bent on self-destruction, Kemp would have more of a chance at the peaceful existence he seeks, but... Where's the fun in that?
The Rum Diary was a passion project for Depp, who angled to get the film made for years and is credited as a producer. A good friend of Thompson's, who died in 2005, Depp played another harshly-ripped-from-reality character in the screen version of the late gonzo journalist's drug-fueled roman à clef, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Happily, while The Rum Diary promises to have a similar tone and pace as Fear and Loathing, at least this time we're frantically watching Depp go nuts on us with a full head of hair.