Filmic Friday 302: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

In Which I Watch a Classic (?) Movie

I'm a straight-edge person. I don't drink or smoke or do any drugs beyond caffeine. I feel out-of-control enough due to my brain being about as well-wired as something worked on by a stoned electrician who flunked out of kindergarten, thanks. Hunter S Thompson and I have never really jived for that reason. I kinda got Vonnegut, but maybe that's because I was exposed to him first. Maybe I'd like Thompson more if I'd read some of his work before Vonnegut's? Regardless, it's not even a word-to-word issue with Thompson, it's just...

Dude, I don't want to feel like I'm high.

I don't like it. It's an unpleasant experience.

Even Sayonara, Gangsters - a book I read recently - grated on me after a while because its super-surrealist qualities made me slightly detached from the world around me.

I don't know, man. I like fantasy just fine, but when we start deconstructing solid concepts like "a chair is a chair" or "people go to a grocery store for food", I start feeling off-kilter and a little crazy.

So of course I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Which is a story and a movie basically made by, for, about, and on drugs

The story of Fear and Loathing goes thusly: Raoul Duke (aka Hunter S Thompson) is on a business trip to Nevada because he's a journalist and he's supposed to be covering a dirtbike/motorcycle race for the newspaper he works at. He brings his insane, drug-dealing "lawyer" Dr Gonzo with him. The two have a briefcase literally full of all of the drugs, and they keep finding trouble along the way.

To be honest, Toby Maguire is probably the best choice they make in the whole movie

After a lot of mescaline, ether, and acid, the two have racked up considerable debt, trashed several hotels, blown the race story, crashed an anti-drug police seminar, attempted to kill one another, possibly corrupted a minor, and Raoul has had several flashbacks (one of which has the actual Hunter S Thompson in it) and hallucinations (because a circus-themed casino and a combination of ether, mescaline, and acid are a terrible idea). The whole movie is a series of psychotic breaks strung together in a barely coherent manner.

I will say that the puppets and costumes during the hallucination are pretty great, though.

This image captures a bit of the feel, but it's not eye-blastingly neon enough...

Did I love Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Absolutely not. Did I hate it? Also absolutely not. It's quite the experience, and if you've never seen it, you probably should, but... I don't quite get the diehard cult following the film has.

I guess I just wasn't stoned enough.

Regardless, everyone's acting their balls off, and Gary Busey's cop is a heck of a headtrip, so go for it!

Go Enjoy Something,
FC