By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

Inspired by Cheryl Della Pietra’s autobiographical book of the same name, which was drawn from the author’s time working as Hunter S. Thompson’s personal assistant in the 1990s, Gonzo Girl is a decent directorial debut from Oscar-winning actress Patricia Arquette. Arquette’s quasi-biopic can’t reach the heights of Terry Gillian’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the most famous cinematic variation on Thompson’s work, but it is elevated by strong performances.

Willem Dafoe stars in the film as Walker Reade, a figure heavily synonymous with Thompson, the father of gonzo journalism. Alley Russo (Camila Morrone) is a bartender and aspiring writer who is personally chosen to be his new assistant, and is tasked with trying to finally coax a new novel out of the notoriously difficult Walker.

Alley goes to live with him at his free-loving, drug-fuelled hippie compound, alongside his manager Claudia (Arquette). Walker expects his assistants to join him in doing morning lines of coke, dropping acid, and firing pistols at wood cutouts of Ronald Raegan. Alley starts keeping a diary, which is frowned upon, and begins to face jealously from Walker’s younger girlfriend Devaney (Elizabeth Lail).

The film feels a little too long and aimless at times, and the story does drags a bit at 107 minutes. But Arquette captures enough of that gonzo spirit to make it worth a look (including bits of Gilliam-inspired animation during a drug trip). The film is built around an entertaining, unhinged turn from Dafoe as the stand-in for Hunter S. Thompson, including a wonderfully delivered monologue partway through about the power of words. Dafoe is marched by a breakout performance from Morrone, who impressively holds her own against him.

Public Screenings: Thursday, September 7th, 8:45 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre; Friday, September 8th, 5:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre; Saturday, September 16th, 3:00 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox