Synopsis: Paul Kemp (played by Johnny Depp) is a freelance journalist who finds himself in a Puerto Rican hotel as he arrives in the country to pursue journalism for a newspaper that is in a dilapidated condition. He finds himself engulfed by the eccentricities of the island where rum, corruption and greed are the rulers of the day and the night. Becoming accustomed to the life of the pristine island, Kemp falls for Chenault (Amber Heard) who is the fiancée of filthy rich businessmen Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart) involved in shady property deals. Sanderson approaches Paul Kemp to write favourably for his new scheme that will convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist state with an ever-widening gap between the destitute and the affluent. Now Kemp is an ambivalent situation of whether to support Sanderson’s degenerating scheme or ensure that the scoundrels are taken down

Description: A freelance journalist Paul Kemp finds himself in the critical situation as he works for a run-down newspaper in Puerto Rico where he tries to establish himself amidst the capitalist corruption where human relations are profoundly absurd in the face of monetary gains.

Review: The Rum Diary is adapted from a long-lost novel by the same name which was written in the 1960s but was published in 1998. It was written by Hunter S Thompson about the life and events of a journalist, Paul Kemp in his journalistic and hedonistic expedition to Puerto Rico to work for a newspaper on the verge of collapse. Thus keeping in light, the era in which the book was written, the movie is also set around the same time in history.

Despite several fragmented and incoherent parts of the story, the acting of Johnny Depp is sublime of an individual who tries to fit in amongst the debauched businessmen and the drugged nights of Puerto Rico. His vast portfolio of roles has allowed him to take on the mantle of any personality imaginable, a quality that he has fully demonstrated in this movie. His spot-on facial expressions, his exemplary delivery of dialogues and above all the persona that he exudes throughout is flawless.

However, the same cannot be said about the story and the movie because for the avid readers of Hunter S Thompson, this would be a disappointment as they feel that their original novel has been played with to their disillusionment. Even the ending can be called a happy one which mars and impairs the very hopelessness and the pessimism that the novel depicts for Kemp and Puerto Rico.