Film 'Gonzo' shows but doesn't tell

"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," a documentary from Alex Gibney ("Taxi to the Dark Side") is pretty much a wallow in all things Thompson, the Rolling Stone reporter who introduced a form of participatory, crazed, possibly booze- and hallucinogenic-driven reportage called "gonzo."

The film is undone by an issue that challenges all biographical documentaries. It can show only what's already there,.As for the five W's of classic old-school journalism (who, what, when, where and why), the film is less rigorous. I could easily do without the first four W's, as they're already more or less known, but where's the fifth one? Where's the why? What was it that impelled this high-school grad from middle-class Louisville, Ky., to journey to New York after he got out of the Air Force and, knowing nobody and knowing almost nothing, begin to build himself a career as a freelance writer? The movie never asks and never wonders. It simply takes Thompson on his own terms. So the film is largely for true believers and has a good time - and gives a good time - re-creating some of its subject's amusingly outlandish stunts as well as his defiantly unprofessional behavior.

• "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," rated R, 120 minutes. Contains drug and sexual content, nudity and profanity.