The cult classic film ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ turns 19 this year. The Hunter S. Thompson novel turned movie somehow always manages to captivate an audience even almost two decades later. The book as been adapted into a graphic novel, audiobook and possibly most notably as a movie. The film was headlined by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, two actors who have seen their star grow over the last thirty years. But the polarizing film also featured some lesser known stars and gave them a platform to boost their star.
Before he was Spider-man, the 23-year-old Tobey MacGuire starred as the hitchhiker, Verne Troyer starred as the ‘Wee Waiter’ before he was ‘Mini-Me’ in the Austin Powers series and before Steve Schirripa was ‘Bobby ‘Bacala’ Baccalieri’ in ‘The Sopranos’ he played the role of the goon in this 1998 film. But the list doesn’t stop there.
, Debbie Reynolds, Penn Jillette of ‘Penn and Teller’ fame, Cameron Diaz, Lyle Lovett, Gary Busey, Christina Ricci, Christopher Maloney and even Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers all had roles in the film.
The story is essentially about Dr. Gonzo and Raoul Duke embarking on a journey initially assigned with a journalistic purpose as their goal but it eventually turns out to be an exploration of the Las Vegas while under the effect of some psychoactive substances. The ‘Mint 400’ Motorcycle race was supposed to be the event Dr. Gonzo covered for a magazine that was never named. By the time the duo reaches the Vegas strip, Duke is a hard drug trip and he is barely able to check-in. He hallucinates that the hotel clerk is a moray eel and that his fellow bar patrons are lizards in the depths of an orgy.
The Vegas setting back when this film was released in the late 90’s is vastly different than what it is nowadays. First, people can try to play top online casino games from the comfort of their own home and win some money. The Vegas experience is nothing like it once was.
Gonzo and Duke spend an exorbitant amount of time on a number of drugs and fully experiencing a visit to Vegas on a plethora of drugs. Duke goes to the race, irrationally fires his photographer Lacerda, believing that they are in the middle of a battlefield. The drug use continues throughout the remainder of the film with mystery room service bills, giving a young girl LSD and a destroyed hotel suits.
This film was kind of the first of its kind. Before the ‘Hangover’ became a hit movie throughout the world, ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ showed everyone a little bit about what happens when you mix drugs and the ‘Sin City’. A lot of lost memories, high bills and making some crazy decisions. But overall, the film still withstands the test of time almost two decades later. The cult classic still holds up today and it’s a fun way to look at how a pair can seemingly go nuts in only two days.
