Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, what's the point?

[ShawnD1]

This is one of my favourite movies but I still can't figure out exactly what the message behind it is. It's about 2 guys on a massive drug binge, one of them a journalist and the other his attourney. They wander around some of the stuff in Vegas, burn 2 hotels, give alcohol and drugs to some girl then ditch her hoping she has memory loss, attend some police thing about drugs then go back home.

What's the message here? The journalist guy keeps mentioning how it's "the american dream" so I'm thinkin that has something to do with it. It's a really screwed up movie, very hard to see the message.

[OuTpaTienT]

Have you read the book? The book rules. The movie pretty much sucks by comparison. READ THE BOOK! You'll love it. It's a fun read. And maybe you'll catch a little more of the point.

[Knothead]

Originally posted by OuTpaTienT
Have you read the book? The book rules. The movie pretty much sucks by comparison. READ THE BOOK! You'll love it. It's a fun read. And maybe you'll catch a little more of the point.

Dang it, OuT beat me to it.

The decision to make a movie out of the mad, vicious and slack-jawed ravings of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson could only have been made by ill-bred chimpanzees pumped up on methamphetamines and nitrous oxide, trying to make money when they weren't tearing the clothes off of schoolgirls driven insane by....

(That's little bit of the flavor of Thompson's writing style...do you wonder that the movie didn't make any sense?)

[ShawnD1]

Was the book as funny as the movie? I just love Johny Depp saying "suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats all swooping and screaching and diving around the car and a voice was screaming holy jesus what are these god damn animals!"

Depp also does good asides like the one where he's thinking about the hitchhiker. aside

[Knothead]

Trust us, that quote is how Thompson talks (writes) all the time. The movie could only attempt to capture Thompson's book, by using verbatim quotes; but unfortunately, it was either that or try to tell a story.

Not even Johnny Depp (who I like owing to his penchant for this type of weird role) could save it from the hellbrew of its own mad source material. (Darn, it IS tempting to try out Thompson's writing style, hmm, OuT? )

[ShawnD1]

Ok I'm getting the hint that this guy is very weird.

I get the feeling that those moments where Duke is typing stuff are important..but I can't figure out what the heck he's talking about. The night when Gonzo is in the tub, Duke starts talking about the high mark of something and he's talking about the hippy era. What does that have to do with the American dream?

[HfdWolfPack]

As your attorney, I just want you to know that I love that movie.



Wait!...I can't post here....this is bat country!

[Theophylact]

By the way: Hunter Thompson, a.k.a. "Raoul Duke", is also the model for Garry Trudeau's "Uncle Duke", the perpetually hungover/hallucinating/overarmed/corrupt journalist/blackmailer/ambassador.

[originel]

i haven't read the book (i really should), but here's my take on the movie (which is one of my favorites too). it's about drugs...and basically shows you what an elongated drug trip is like. As for a moral of the story i don't think there is one. the point behind it? i guess you could go into how even tho, as a society, we are together and normal but just below the surface we have the potential for the absurd. just a thought