Preview: The Rum Diary

R for roguish Johnny Depp, shabby hotels, all the cool kids drinking tequila to the point of blackout

Release Date: October 28

It’s a question we’ve all asked: What if Captain Jack Sparrow were a muckracking 1950s journalist? Well, we’ve finally got our answer, and it’s everything we could’ve hoped for, plus ten bottles of Puerto Rican tequila getting smashed over by a bowling ball.

The tagline “From the Mind of Hunter S. Thompson” is compelling but a little demeaning to the rest of us. Sure, he might have written the novel, but what American dreamer hasn’t mentally cast Aaron Eckhart as a ruthless tycoon, and Johnny Depp as the lovable alcoholic who seduces Eckhart’s way-too-young-for-either-of-them fiancee? You think Hunter S. Thompson was the only guy to imagine a diamond-encrusted turtle? I’ve been doodling jewel-covered reptiles for years, man. ~Ben Orlin