– Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut is a disappointment

, seems, at least on the surface, to be interested in complicating that image, or at least adding some footnotes. The 107-minute film, written by Rebecca Thomas and Jessica Caldwell and based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Cheryl Della Pietra, focuses on a young female assistant to a stand-in for Hunter S Thompson in the summer of 1992.

Tellingly, the film begins not with Alley but with Walter, as he conducts a typically volatile and combative reading in New York. Spring-loaded movements, rambling monologues, manic energy – it’s the type of role Dafoe can sink his teeth into, and he eats every scene. Which is a problem for a film that seems interested in the many female figures who support the reputation of singular genius, but has little interest in their lives outside of their relation to him.

Alley’s task, as relayed by Walter’s longtime secretary/fixer Claudia is to keep the party going but steer Walter to the typewriter just enough to get some good pages to his editor in New York, lest the cashflow cease. Given the hangers-on, the coke, the partying and Walter’s insecure, equally erratic girlfriend Devaney , this is more difficult than promised.

There’s an online joke that Morrone, who managed to eke out some space in the messy ensemble that was, has a face that’s seen Instagram, and Gonzo Girl does little to dispel that this is not 1992. Her role is, for the most part, more modeling than acting – a series of ever more sexy outfits that cater to Walter’s taste , in various postures of ecstasy, focus or distress. As the film wears on and the walls close in on Walker , she fades away from the story, more trope than character.

More interesting is Claudia, a woman whose sweet, somewhat wearied affect masks a sinister, ice-cold self-protective streak – in other words, a typically Arquette creation. Towards the end, as Alley’s tolerance for Walter’s outbursts wanes, Claudia offers what seems to be the justification for all this mess on-screen: that every woman involved, every invisible secretary or assistant or girlfriend, gets some credit for the work, is responsible for some of the magic.

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