The Rum Diary (Bruce Robinson, 2011)

 

I was reading in Wikipedia that The Rum Diary got mixed reviews when it came out and was also a box office bomb. It didn't even make the money it cost. This is another pitiful example that audience and critics are a waste of fucking time. There are very few apparently that got the humor and the style of the movie and even less who understood the comment of the movie. The Rum Diary based on the fabulous book by remarkable, legendary author Hunter S. Thompson is a film that uses the unorthodox, the indecent, the obscene if you like to make crystal clear to all of us that humanity is drenched in lies. That our character, at least for most us, is a heinous collection of wannabes, pretentiousness and self-righteousness. The answer to all that, to all that lie, that we are witnessing every day is to live on the margins of life. Meaning to live like clowns. To  make sure to everyone that this madness will never get us down. To make sure that these imposters of the human being will never get us down. That's exactly what The Rum Diary is all about and that was also what the life and deeds of the author was all about. The rest of it, the numbers and the reviews of the movie, are simply farts in strong wind. They aren't even smelly. 

Johnny Depp some many years after the masterpiece Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, returns to play another alter-ego of Hunter. The result of that is a hilarious, crazy and untamable movie that will make your day, stay assured for that. But there is a "secret" point to all that, the humor of author Hunter was not simply funny, for the sake of fun, it had strong roots. And that can be seen clearly in the movie. The humor of Hunter was a fierce "fuck you" to everything this society stands for. And thus The Rum Diary is a movie that is not to be taken lightly. It's not a lighthearted comedy, that's why it didn't get good reviews and was a box office bomb. If it was one of those silly-happy romantic comedies it would be a hit, take my word for it. The Rum Diary shows the struggle of one man to cope with his surrounding. To cope with all the... bastards that are around him. And for that reason we identify with the protagonist, with the movie and with its incredible witty comment.