RULES DON’T APPLY
20th Century Fox
Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya
Grade: B
Director:  Warren Beatty
Written by: Warren Beatty, Bo Goldman
Cast: Warren Beatty, Alden Ehrenrcih, Lily Collins, Annette Bening, Haley Bennett, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick
Screened at: Regal E-Walk, NYC, 11/10/16
Opens: November 23, 2016

Warren Beatty is back.  Can Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson be far behind?  With “Rules Don’t Apply,” the 79-year-old actor-director-producer performs in the role of Howard Hughes, who was the Donald Trump of his time, and apparently just as nutty.  During the 1960s, Hughes was more diversified economically than our president-elect, with the Hughes Tool Company serving as holding company for ventures in defense, electronics, mass media, manufacturing and hospitality.  He also had a strong presence in real estate, petroleum drilling and oilfield services, consulting, entertainment, and mining.  And like our own Donald, he was a womanizer, and who could avoid that role given especially his entertainment holding in RKO, and whose movie “Hell’s Angels” his best known.  The young women showing up for screen tests could further their career by being kind to Mr. Hughes.

The starlet taking on the role of aspiring actress in “Rules Don’t Apply” seems to have been the favorite of Hughes as well as his driver, Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich), the latter looking like someone out of TV’s “Mad Men.”  Brought to Los Angeles by her mom, Lucy Mabrey (Annette Bening), Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) looks like a twenty-something Elizabeth Taylor as well as a performer who could easily fill the role of Anne Frank.  The twenty-seven year old British-born performer, who was once voted as having the best eyebrows in Hollywood, plays a virginal Baptist beauty queen from Virginia who, after arriving in Hollywood is handed over to Frank Forbes, a young businessman with eyes on real estate but who serves as her driver.  Religion plays a big part in the story.  Marla is a devout Baptist, Frank is a devout Methodist.  They have an instant attraction, but not only do their religions forbid pre-marital relations: most important, Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty) forbids even romantic interaction between his employees and the starlets.  But rules don’t apply in this case.

Though the sizzle between Marla and Frank provides the romantic sparks throughout, Beatty is not one to fade to the sidelines.  He’s having as much fun now as he had in forty-one years ago in “Shampoo” when, as a younger man who may not have had the money that Hughes possessed was still the heartthrob of many a woman whose hair he serviced in the salon.  Whenever young romance takes a break in this film, the action focuses on Hughes, particularly his eccentricities.  When he applies for a four hundred million dollar loan from Forester (Oliver Platt), he refuses to see the banker in person in much the way he serves as a mystery man to his staff.

The one hilarious scene occurs when Hughes is flying a plane, a terrified Col. Nigel Briggs (Steve Coogan) at his side with Frank in the back seat trembling with fear and about to throw up.  The film features a host of A-list actors including Matthew Broderick as a Hughes associate; also Ed Harris, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Candice Bergen and Amy Madigan.   Director Beatty does well in assigning the lead roles to Ehrenreich and Collins, giving them space to work out their sexual attraction while keeping the camera on himself only when organically essential.

Rated PG-13.  127 minutes.  © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online

Story – B
Acting – B+
Technical – B+
Overall – B