Movies: Gonzo

A perfectly serviceable documentary tallying the life of Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo fails to evoke any more excitement than an A&E Biography, even with the help of creepily fastidious interviewee Tom Wolfe (whom I've always preferred to Thompson), awe-striking art from Ralph Steadman, and an appearance from Johnny Depp. This can be blamed primarily on an excessive use of 1960s stock footage (riots, hippies, marches, etc.) that has all been seen before in every made-for-TV documentary about that era and any person who happened to live through it, but also on the exhausted talking-heads format (even if those talking heads include George McGovern and Pat Buchanan). Ultimately, audience members will get a much better understanding of reading any of Thompson's books or articles (of which I, um, haven't read any. . . yet!).