Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

1998 "Buy the ticket, take the ride"
7.5| 1h58m| R| en| More Info
Released: 19 May 1998 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their consumption of drugs increases at an alarming rate, the stoned duo trash their hotel room and fear legal repercussions. Duke begins to drive back to L.A., but after an odd run-in with a cop, he returns to Sin City and continues his wild drug binge.

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Reviews

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Johnny Depp movie in order, I come to Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)As someone who has never taken any none medically described drugs, this movie was never going to be my cup of tea. I considered it one of Depp's worst the last time I seen it (in the cinema in 1998) and not a lot has changed. Based on Hunter S Thomsons novel of the same name. This is just a mess, the movie pretty much repeats itself over and over as Depp and Del Toro take drugs, stumble into diffrent situations, wreak havoc, and go back to their hotel rooms. I can't fault Depp's performance, he'd already proved himself a talented actor by this point, and here (with a bald head, strange hats, big shades, and a cigarette holder between his clenched teeth) is no different, as he gives his all and totally immerses himself in his character. Much of the clothing worn by Depp in the movie were the real clothes Hunter S. Thompson wore in the '70s. Thompson himself let Depp borrow them for the movie, after Depp spent four months with Thompson learning his mannerisms and proper vocal inflection for the role.Benico Del Toro is fine as is Toby Maguire as a hitchhiker. Cameron Diaz, Gary Busey and Verne Troyer pop up as does a very braless Christina Ricci. Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas grossed $10 million dollars at the domestic box office to not land a place on highest 100 grossing movie of the year list.
Robert Porter The first 5 minutes of this film is pure genius. I must give credit where it is due. You realise very early on that the setting, the costumes, the wide angle lens capturing the dessert, & the uncanny dialogue compressed with tape distortion & 60's EQ is all so contrasted that it sails to hilarity. And that is drugs in a coconut shell.. it's funny. This film isn't. In all my years of watching film & TV, I have never yet seen Drugs portrayed honestly. I don't know what the deal is, but everyone has a really mediocre & cliché opinion of drugs affects on the mind. In reality, you don't have people being chased home by a party of mars bars. Instead, you feel relevant to your surroundings. So much so that it is easy to become paranoid, yes. But it never takes over as long as you have trust & communication. It is similar to experiencing the format of your childhood without the nostalgia. Everything feels new once more. It is both enlightening & cleansing. Almost spiritual, as felicity ramifies freely. And all the bullshit of the world's economic greed are left to destroy themselves with risk & hope. Where as in movies.. people just act like total raving loonies. Stumbling all over the place, & embarrassing everyone around them awkwardly until the director demands the wavering plot to return to drama & jokes based upon what people have already seen & accepted. Instead of the careful pace & dosage made by men & women who's metacognition is in perfect check, so that they may better themselves by exploring the countryside, whilst familiarising themselves with how time can slow down to a steady tick, in order to take note of every beautiful detail in a heightened punctilious manner... Instead, you have near invincible sebaceous men deploring decorum & forswearing moral alacrity as though their inner sanctum is filled with ever spurning antipathy. And the reckless craving to disturb everyone around them. Well, this film is one of those films where the noises in your own head become louder than the dialogue in the film. "Drugs are BAD. Yes. We get it". I fail to see how yet another typical film with this dull & tired message has anything fresh to contribute? How about a film that says "Drugs are good"? Now wouldn't that be a controversy? Avoid this film. Unless you think drugs are cool. In which case you are stupid enough to laugh at the same tired joke over & over anyway.
Tweekums Journalist Raoul Duke and his 'attorney' Dr. Gonzo are heading to Las Vegas; ostensibly to cover a desert motorcycle race but given the quantity and variety of drugs the pair have consumed things get weird before they have even arrived in Las Vegas. They only get stranger when they arrive; the hallucinations and paranoia escalate and strangeness ensues.It is hard to describe the plot as it is basically a series of weird things happening due to our protagonists' use of an industrial quantity of drugs. Terry Gilliam is just the man to bring such weirdness to the screen and he does a fine job directing. Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro impress as Duke and Gonzo; it is easy to believe that they are really on something! The rest of the cast, which includes well-known actors in some minor roles, do well too. There are plenty of very funny moments as well as some disturbing ones… I can't imagine many viewers will watch this and feel inspired to try various drugs. Overall I'd say that if you demand a solid plot you bay be disappointed but if you want surreal weirdness you won't get much more weird or more surreal than this.
targe1314 This is not so much a movie, much like Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', it is an experience. It is not meant to be viewed as a narrative story, as there is none.A nutjob journalist and a crazy Mexican lawyer go to Vegas to milk Rolling Stone magazine on the expense tab, and not so very slowly, they go insane.FALILV:AJTTSHOTAD tells the story of what happened when gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson traveled to Vegas to do an interview on a protest death, and take pictures of cars, and instead discovered the rotten heart of his country in all it's vile splendor, and decided to write about that instead. While extremely high.Look for a 21 yo Tobey Maguire, sans spandex, to steal the opening act as a young hitchhiker who quickly realizes the folly of hitching a ride with a wacked out HS Thompson (who uses a pseudo-name for some reason throughout the movie, yet according to Jonny Depp, the book and movie are 100% legit)Jonny plays Thompson aka Raoul Duke, and to a tee apparently, as he spent 4 months at Thompson's wacky jacky neversoberranch, studying his materials and ingesting anything that also went in Hunter's body.Benicio Del Toro brings his excellent mad dog routine, as the crazed and paranoid Dr. Gonzo, perhaps the only man at the time capable of going toe to toe with Hunter S.Best viewed after 6 beer, 2 joints, and with eye dropper solution diluting your pupils...