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Movies / On DVD / Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

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Reviews Counted:44

Fresh:21

Rotten:23

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: Visually creative, but also aimless, repetitve, and devoid of character development.

Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is a whirlwind of a movie, a wacky, drug-laden story backed by a fist-pumping rock & roll soundtrack featuring everything from Wayne Newton and Tom Jones to... FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is a whirlwind of a movie, a wacky, drug-laden story backed by a fist-pumping rock & roll soundtrack featuring everything from Wayne Newton and Tom Jones to Combustible Edison and Dead Kennedys. Journalist Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) heads to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, bringing along his Samoan lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), in this furious adaptation of the book by Hunter S. Thompson. It is 1971, and Duke and Gonzo are on their way to Sin City with a frightened hitchhiker (a nearly unrecognizable Tobey Maguire) and a trunkful of drugs, which they ingest nonstop. Depp is terrific as Duke, Thompson's alter ego, and Del Toro is a riot as the crazy lawyer. To perfect his Thompsonian performance, Depp spent a lot of time with the good doctor, and it paid off in a film that captures the frenetic pace of the counterculture novel. Director Terry Gilliam, a master of complex, bizarre visual imagery, has a field day interpreting the drug-hazed world in which Duke and Gonzo reside. An all-star cast chimes in with wonderfully offbeat bit parts, including Harry Dean Stanton, Gilliam regular Katherine Helmond, Flea, Cameron Diaz, Ellen Barkin, Christina Ricci, Gary Busey, Lyle Lovett, and others. [More]

Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire

Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Cameron Diaz, Gary Busey, Lyle Lovett

Director: Terry Gilliam

Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenwriter: Terry Gilliam, Tod Davies, Alex Cox, Tony Grisoni
Producer: Patrick Cassavetti, Stephen Nemeth

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Nov 17, 1998

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Reviews for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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More headache than head trip.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
04/02/09
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is the best acid-inspired movie since Roger Corman's The Trip - and it is a darn sight more accurate in its depiction [of] the highs and the lows, the terrible confusion alternating with lucidity, the excitement that gives way to paranoia.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
12/22/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

...he first hour of the film is as successful as anything I've ever seen or read at conveying how the world looks to the drugged.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
05/28/08
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Years from now, it will be reappraised as a misunderstood masterpiece. Well, this is one American critic who's not waiting until years from now.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment 1 Comment
02/03/08
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Gilliam shows that there is something appealing about drug highs. It wouldn't be honest to say otherwise. And, yes, they'll destroy you. It's honest about that too.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
07/16/04
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Unlike Trainspotting, Fear and Loathing doesn't shock or fascinate. It simply disgusts and repels.

Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | comment 9 Comments
06/22/04
Judith Egerton
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
03/16/04
Apollo Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A bizarre masterpiece that invents a brilliantly skewed perspective and sustains it for a nearly impossible 117 minutes.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/01/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

About as enjoyable as a bad trip.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment 5 Comments
01/17/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
07/26/03
Jamie Gillies
Jamie Gillies
Apollo Guide
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
05/22/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/03
Jim Shelby
Jim Shelby
Palo Alto Weekly

If Gilliam was intending to create a film that would disgust, disorient and eventually irritate, then this one’s a bona-fide masterpiece – but don’t expect me to sit through it ever again.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment 7 Comments
04/28/03
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
Apollo Guide

...has an incongruous, stream-of-consciousness tang that requires just the right mood to enjoy.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
04/12/03
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

January 14, 2009: More Fear and/or Loathing for Johnny Depp? Opens in new window
Johnny Depp has been a very busy man lately, and according to the folks at The Bad and Ugly, he's lined up another project -- one that would have him reprising a past role that... More...

January 04, 2009: Video Exclusive: Benicio del Toro talks Che and Wolf Man
Benicio Del Toro faced his greatest acting challenge when he took on the role of Ernesto "Che" Guevara for what would become a four-hour epic tale of the iconic revolutionary's... More...

December 19, 2008: RT Interview: Director Alex Gibney on Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Documentarian Alex Gibney was tasked with the challenge of bringing structure to the extreme life of controversial journalist Hunter S. Thompson. RT talks to him to find out more. More...

April 23, 2008: Top Ten Vegas Films
Prepare for the upcoming release of the Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy, What Happens in Vegas, with the RT Top Ten Vegas Films. More...

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