Movie Review: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is not a particularly entertaining movie, nor is it an easy one to sit through. It’s adapted from a notoriously difficult to adapt book, and as such, the movie’s wildly uneven.

Though the performances certainly stand out. Both Depp and Del Toro are fantastic as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo.

The movie’s incredibly chaotic as one might imagine, and it certainly feels like a good recreation of the effect of these various drugs they’re taking, though I wouldn’t know from any kind of experience.

But the movie also feels kind of hollow. While certain scenes really stand out, I just wasn’t sure what the whole point was. The book clearly contains a lot of satire about the late ‘60s/early ’70s political climate, and while some of that is recreated here in the film, I’m just not sure what I’m to get out of that in a movie released in the late ’90s.

Rating: 5/10