Movie · 1998 · Adventure, Drama, Comedy · 1h 58m · R · English
Curator score: 4.8/10 (718.4K ratings)
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Overview
Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their consumption of drugs increases at an alarming rate, the stoned duo trash their hotel room and fear legal repercussions. Duke begins to drive back to L.A., but after an odd run-in with a cop, he returns to Sin City and continues his wild drug binge.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.8/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.77/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Metacritic: 41
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Terry Gilliam
Production
Summit Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Fear and Loathing LLC, Rhino Films, Shark Productions
Cast
Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Michael Lee Gogin, Larry Cedar, Brian Le Baron, Katherine Helmond, Michael Warwick, Craig Bierko, Tyde Kierney, Mark Harmon, Tim Thomerson, Richard Riehle, Ransom Gates, Frank Romano, Gil Boccaccio, Gary Bruno, Richard Portnow, Debbie Reynolds, Steve Schirripa
Curator Review
Verdict
A hallucinatory, abrasive road movie that turns drug-fueled excess into savage comedy and surreal nightmare. It’s messy by design, but the visual invention, dark humor, and committed performances make it a standout for viewers who like their satire chaotic and unhinged.
Best for
fans of surreal black comedy
viewers interested in gonzo journalism and counterculture satire
people who enjoy stylistic, highly subjective filmmaking
audiences who like drug-trip cinema and anti-road movies
Skip if
you want a clear plot or conventional character arcs
you’re sensitive to constant substance abuse and chaotic behavior
you dislike abrasive, episodic storytelling
you prefer grounded realism over stylized excess
Overview
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is less a story than a fever dream with a steering wheel. Terry Gilliam treats Hunter S. Thompson’s material as a license for visual delirium, letting the movie lurch from comic absurdity to genuine dread without warning. The result is a film that feels both gleefully anarchic and strangely sad, as if the joke has curdled in real time.
Worth noting
Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro commit fully to the bit, but the movie’s real star is its atmosphere of collapse: neon, dust, paranoia, and the endless churn of bad decisions. It is often funny, sometimes ugly, and deliberately exhausting, which is exactly why it works. The film doesn’t romanticize the trip; it makes the hangover part of the experience.
Bottom line
This is a cult film for viewers who like cinema to feel dangerous, unstable, and a little bit poisoned. If you’re open to a movie that weaponizes excess as critique, it’s one of the most memorable American films of the 1990s.
Top Letterboxd reviews
witch (5★) · 10247 likes
Tobey Maguire is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever fucking seen.
Silent J (5★) · 4611 likes
For absolutely no reason, I watched this dubbed in Spanish with no subtitles.
For some reason, it works. Somehow it adds to the insanity.
2013 · Crime, Drama, Comedy · 3h · R · Curator 7.9/10 (5.7M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, AMC+, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A modern excess-soaked satire that turns hedonism into a manic, self-devouring spectacle.