The Rum Diary

Paul Kemp is a journalist who leaves New York for Puerto Rico in 1960, tired of the city and of the pressures of late Eisenhower-era America. He takes a job at an English-language newspaper in San Juan, where he falls in with heavy drinking colleagues and an easy island life. He becomes drawn to Chenault, an American woman whose partner, Sanderson, is a businessman profiting from property deals on the island. Sanderson wants Kemp to write in support of his plans, leaving Kemp to weigh his ambitions against his integrity. The film is based on Hunter S. Thompson's novel.

Bruce Robinson directed and wrote the screenplay, returning to filmmaking after a long gap; it follows Withnail & I, How to Get Ahead in Advertising and Jennifer Eight in his directing career. Johnny Depp, who also produced, plays Kemp, with Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins among the cast. The production cost about 45 million dollars and took roughly 24 million worldwide, so it did not recover its budget in cinemas.

On TMDB it holds 5.9 out of 10 from around 1,400 votes, indicating a middling audience response.