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[[quoteright:347:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-rum-diary-movie-poster_6526.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:347:[[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean But why is the rum gone?!]]]]

A 2011 American film starring Creator/JohnnyDepp, based on Creator/HunterSThompson's lone {{novel}} and written and directed by Creator/BruceRobinson.

[[AuthorAvatar Paul Kemp]] (Creator/JohnnyDepp) arrives on the island of Puerto Rico after being enlisted to become the newest reporter for the San Juan Star. Kemp is introduced to his newest co-workers, old veteran Bob Sala (Creator/MichaelRispoli) and oddball Moburg (Creator/GiovanniRibisi) as well as his cigar-chomping editor boss Edward J. Lotterman (Creator/RichardJenkins) and is told he will be doing color stories for the paper.

The movie revolves around the many adventures Kemp gets himself into, eventually including a plot by a corrupt realtor Hal Sanderson (Creator/AaronEckhart) to purchase a nearby unspoiled island and turn it into yet another tourist destination. And things get even more complicated when Kemp ends up falling for Sandersons' girlfriend, Chenault (Creator/AmberHeard).
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!!Tropes:

* AdaptationalSkimpiness: The scene with Chenault dancing at the bar is greatly toned down. In the book, she [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn strips naked in the middle of the dance floor]] and gets dragged off by island locals, and is [[RapeDiscretionShot heavily implied to be raped]]. In the film, she wears a [[LadyInRed red dress]] and the scene fades away as she's dancing with the locals, making it more ambiguous whether she was raped or not.
* TheAlcoholic: Most of the main cast, but especially the side character Moberg whose booze consumption puts the rest of the cast drunken characters to shame.
* BarBrawl: Sanderson ends up getting beaten by the angry locals at the St. Thomas bar when Chenault decides to go dancing there just to spite him.
* BeastlyBloodsports: To make money to print the last edition, Kemp, Sala and Moburg place a big cockfighting bet. They visit Papa Nebo, Moburg's hermaphrodite witch doctor, to lay a blessing on the strongest fighting cockerel on the island, which Sala manages to borrow. They win, but return to the office to find that the printing presses have been confiscated.
* BigFancyHouse: Sanderson has a big palatial beach home, which greatly contrasts with the poverty of San Juan.
* BittersweetEnding: The newspaper gets shut down, the printing presses are confiscated before Paul can print the expose' he had planned, he and Sala are out of a job and wanted by the law. Fortunately, they just made a big wad of cash from cockfighting, there's a convenient boat owned by Sanderson for Paul to steal, Chenault is waiting for him and they marry according to the epilogue, but most importantly, the seed of GonzoJournalism has been planted.
* BlackComedyRape: What happened to Kemp's predecessor as "Madame Le Zonga"? Raping to death is mentioned, but his editor admits he was fucking with him.
-->'''Kemp''': The raped him ''to death''?
* BoozeFlamethrower: Kemp manages to fend off an angry mob (and accidentally set fire to a police officer) by drinking "470 proof alcohol" and breathing on a lighter.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Sanderson is a corrupt American realtor, who uses various shady dealings to defraud Puerto Ricans.
* DaEditor: Lotterman is a corrupt, cigar-chomping and pompous editor of ''The San Juan Star'' and Kemp's BadBoss who only cares about making money, not real journalism.
* TheFilmOfTheBook: The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Creator/HunterSThompson.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
-->'''Lotterman:''' This is the American dream, Paul.\\
'''Paul:''' You did me the best favour I ever had. There is no dream, Chenault. There's a piss-puddle of greed spreading throughout the world.\\
'''Paul:''' I want to make a promise to you, the reader. And I don't know if I can fulfill it tomorrow, or even the day after that. But I put the bastards of this world on notice; that I do ''not'' have their best interests at heart. I will try and speak for my reader. That is my promise. [[GonzoJournalism And it will be a voice made of ink, and rage.]]
%% * GonzoJournalism: Possibly an origin story.
* HerosEvilPredecessor: Moburg is a kind of proto-Hunter S. Thompson. He's resourceful, fearless, and has grit to spare. He's also a Neo-Nazi.
* HistoricalInJoke: Watching the 1960 Presidential debates.
--> [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy The Irish one]] will win. [[WhoShotJFK But they won't let him live.]]
%% * HollywoodVoodoo: Papa Nebo's chicken blessing.
* {{Horrorscope}}: The trope is name-dropped. Paul is assigned to the horoscope section of the San Juan Star paper by his boss because Paul's aims as being a brutally honest journalist conflicts with the feelgood, profit-over-journalistic-integrity that the paper is going for. Paul goes at it with very little enthusiasm, at one point referring to it as a "horrorscope".
* InterruptedIntimacy: Just as Kemp and Chenault are about to have sex, Moburg's old vynil acts up, with Hitler giving a speech. Needlessly to say, that kills the mood.
* IntrepidReporter: Kemp grows into one, putting himself and his job in danger in order to expose the real problems of San Juan.
%% * [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans It's Always Carnival on Saint Thomas]]
%% * [[TheMagicPokerEquation The Magic Cock Fighting Equation]]: Use El Monstro, win as much money as necessary.
* MaleGaze: The camera zooms from Chenault's breasts onto her legs in one scene.
* MsFanservice: Chenault is a blond-haired bombshell who's often wearing revealing outfits and shows plenty of skin.
* NakedFirstImpression: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Kemp first meets Chenault while she's SkinnyDipping in a lake at night, but her body is submerged the entire time, so both he and the audience only see her ShouldersUpNudity.
%% * OriginStory: For Creator/HunterSThompson
* ThePeepingTom: Kemp spies on Chenault having sex with Sanderson in the water via telescope.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Chenault is in the middle of a LoveTriangle between her rich corrupt boyfriend Sanderson and the poor StarvingArtist Kemp. She eventually grows tired of Sanderson's ego and shady dealings and decides to go for Kemp, as she [[ArtistsAreAttractive becomes attracted to his romantic and artistic aspirations]].
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Rich corrupt realtor Sanderson's Modus Operandi is to just throw money at his problems to make them go away, which actually works in Kemp's favor when he pays for his bail... but also ends up screwing him over when he antagonizes Sanderson who them retracts his bail and makes Kemp a wanted man.
* SexySurfacingShot: One scene has a focused shot of Chenault and Sanderson coming out of the ocean, her in a skimpy red swimsuit and him {{shirtless|Scene}}.
* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Chenault doesn't care much for modesty, she goes SkinnyDipping at night, Sanderson claims she often sunbathes nude (and apparently draws a crowd to the property’s fences when she does it) and overall wears very revealing outfits.
* ShoutOut: Multiple to ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'':
** The bottle containing Moberg's drug looks to be a replica of the adrenochrome bottle.
** The scene with Kemp monologuing while typing facing out a shuttered window is a direct lift from scene where Duke sits in the same pose and makes the famous Wave Speech from Fear and Loathing.
* ShowerOfLove: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Chenault invades Kemp's bathroom as he's showering and starts kissing him, but they soon move on to the bedroom to have sex.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** To ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', as it’s an adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel starring Johnny Depp as Thompson’s AuthorAvatar. Although, it should be noted that it chronicles the misadventures of a Hunter before he isn't quite so inebriated or bald.
%% ** Also to ''Film/WithnailAndI''. It's a Bruce Robinson-directed tragicomedy where the main character experiences a downward, drunken spiral to an epiphany, and ends up leaving the environment he's been living in.
* StarvingArtist: Kemp is an aspiring writer, but he been unable to sell his unpublished novels, thus he gets a job at a newspaper writing horoscopes and puff pieces to support himself.
* ToplessnessFromTheBack: When Kemp and Chenault are undressing to have sex, we only see her bare back once her shirt and bra are removed, and she's only wearing jeans by the time they get [[InterruptedIntimacy interrupted]] by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Hitler]].
%% * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: What happened to the corrupt land deal?
* WhatNowEnding: Kemp leaves the island on a stolen boat, and doesn't seem to know even where he's going.
%% * WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: The bar/dance scene in St. Thomas.
* WretchedHive: Many parts of San Juan are incredibly impoverished and crime-ridden.
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