Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Terry Gilliam is usualy top drawer in my books but he sure screwed the pooch with this one. While seemingly faithful to Hunter S. Thompson legendary book it sorely misses one element...the humor. This is not a funny film and while Thompson's work was sometimes mean spirited it had a wickedly funny side and none of it is to be found here. Johnny Depp does a wonderful characture of Thompson but in no way captures his genius and Benicio Del Toro, though visually appropriate, elicits far more loathing than fear here. Tobey Maguire is all but unrecognizable as the hitchhike as is Gary Busey as a highway patrol officer. There are cameos galore to be had here, including one from Thompson himself (a highlight even though he does nothing) but they are simply not enough to carry this number through. If it's a Hunter film fix you are after...go find WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM.