Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -4

Johnny Depp plays balding journalist Raoul Duke traveling with his activist lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), to Las Vegas. It's 1971 and the country is filled with fear and loathing over the war in Vietnam. Swerving across the California desert in a red convertible with a trunk full of every imaginable drug, the two finally arrive in Las Vegas after terrorizing a hitchhiker and battling giant bugs in their psychedelic imaginations. Their odyssey continues as they mindlessly consume drugs and alcohol. Most will find it painful to watch for almost two hours two grown men hallucinating, vomiting, suffering cold sweats and unable to stand up.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is based on a book by H. S. Thompson, based on his own experiences. If Fear and Loathing could be screened without any dialogue, it might impact teenagers flirting with drugs. The two men's self-destructive behavior and hideous nightmarish visions may invoke a few laughs, but overall it is a terribly depressing, depraved movie. The dialogue is mostly obscenities and profanities that merely reflect the screenwriters' lack of creativity. It includes 54 regular profanities and 81 obscenities accompanied by disgusting, crude behavior. Gonzo picks up a teenage girl and takes her to the hotel, and in a drugged state implies they had sex when Raoul questions him. By the time Raoul leaves Las Vegas in a cloud of dust, you feel that's all there is to him -- a cloud of dust with no hope for change. Gonzo and Raoul demolish hotel suites, snort cocaine, inhale ether, drink alcohol all mixed together, yet never suffer consequences. Perhaps being stuck with their own conscience and miserable existence is worse punishment than jail. Those under the influence might think this "comedy" is funny, and if that is true, they need help.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Universal Pictures, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 90232