Just because I thought very highly of Brazil and heard that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is both a cult hit and quite a unique visual experience, I was rather looking forward to watching it. As it turned out, this was certainly unique and not quite in the way I expected. It also really isn’t all that good, which probably explains why its Rotten Tomatoes rating hovers around the low 50s.

Johnny Depp plays Raoul Duke, the self-professed doctor of journalism who is driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas either on assignment for a magazine or to kill someone with the gun that he casually waves around. His drug-induced haze makes it difficult for the viewer to determine which is the case. Accompanying him is his lawyer, known as Dr. Gonzo, played by Benicio del Toro, who is even more fond of drugs than Duke himself is, plus a sizable cache of narcotics of many different types.

It’s tempting to try to work out what is really going on in here, but eventually you accept that the film is almost empty of plot and is pretty much all about following a couple of guys who bumble around Las Vegas while being stoned out of their minds. I’m told that this is indeed one of the most accurate portrayals of what it’s like to be under the influence of narcotics put on film. A couple of noteworthy examples are when Duke hallucinates being attacked by a swarm of bats while driving a convertible and seeing the wavy design of a hotel’s carpeted floor gently undulate.

Of course, drugs do more than make you see things that aren’t there. Specifically, they make you engage in behavior that is normally considered to be socially acceptable. This leads the pair to completely trash hotel rooms, leer and threaten random people, and speed like they have a death wish. It’s amusing to note that even at their most delirious, they retain some sense of self-preservation and intelligence. Duke for example knows when he should stop driving and when he should just go take a nap. But it’s still nothing short of amazing that they can survive for more than a day in this state.

There’s some good humor in watching these shenanigans play out, on top of the novelty value of seeing what it’s like to be high for days on end for those who have never done drugs. It’s also a lot of fun to notice the constant stream of Hollywood stars in bit roles scattered throughout the movie. I would guess that judging by the popularity of the writer whose novel this movie is based, there’s a certain American generation to whom his philosophy of keeping the spirit of the 1960s alive through the drugs means something. But to me, the entertainment value of watching this weird experience isn’t enough to justify its two-hours running time.