I’ve never read the Hunter S. Thompson novel but I’ve no doubt it establishes its themes better by keeping Raoul Duke as a constant narrator. For all his ramblings about the American Dream in the movie, the fact that any other conception of the American Dream isn’t established means his philosophy is relative to absolutely nothing, and thus, just ramblings. This theme is lost for drug misadventures that vary between clever and random, but none with a dynamic tone or the subversion needed to make comedy funny.