The Rum Diary

Johnny Depp is currently an actor who can get viewers into the cinema simply because he is in the film. I think he also saved Tim Burton's latest film "Dark Shadows". "The Rum Diary" is not a film that I would go to the cinema for, but it was Depp himself who made me watch it. It's not a bad film, at times it's not a bad comedy, but I just have the feeling throughout the whole film that it relies solely on Depp. Put someone else in the lead role and it won't have the same success. It won't be as funny. "The Rum Diary" tells a not-so-exciting story about a journalist who finds work in Puerto Rico. It's the setting that spices up the film. The setting and Depp. Thanks to him, the film comes alive, although it's true that Giovanni Ribisi or Aaron Eckhart also did a good job. But the film didn't stick in my mind as much as I would have liked. (19/02/2013)

A light, bittersweet flick, of which you will remember the nice house on the beach, the diamond-studded tortoise and the incredible femme fatale Amber Heard. The film plays on the euphoric experience of spontaneous and unpredictable scenes rather than on reason. It has a haze of alcohol and drugs, but in order to be truly entertaining it would have to work more inventively with the bohemian characters around Johnny Depp (as well as with Depp himself. One gets the impression that the director preferred to see the posh couple of Eckhart and Heard in front of the camera rather than Depp’s annoying slackers. I don’t know what the book was based on, but whatever it was, it doesn’t help the film. (21/12/2011)

Let me put it this way - some movies will evaporate from your mind by the next morning, some will disappear from your memory within three days, and others may take a week or even months. The Rum Diary dissolved the moment I turned off the TV. All I know is that Johnny Depp was in it, it was set in the Caribbean, and there was a lot of talking and drinking. This movie left no other traces in me, and I will definitely never come back to it. If I had to characterize The Rum Diary, I would describe it as confusing. Overall impression: 35%. (11/05/2020)

Bland and dry. A much better Depp than we’ve seen in a long time, but the story is ultra simple. A fight to save paradise? The strength of the media? They touched lightly on everything, but it lacks oomph. There are only very few funny situations and the only thing that make it worth (your while) watching is Amber’s symmetrical smile. (27/08/2017)

It's almost a shame that in retrospect, The Rum Diary becomes the film about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's infamous affair, somewhat obliterating much else. For example, the great theme from Hunter S. Thompson's book. After all, who wouldn't want to get drunk on the beaches of Puerto Rico in the late 1950s? (05/07/2021)