I have a lot of time for Warren Beatty. He is one of the few people to be nominated for Oscars in the main four categories for a film twice. Best actor, screenplay, director and producer for the films Heaven Can Wait and Reds.
Rule Don't Apply is his first film since since 2001. It is set in 1958 Hollywood and follows the romantic relationship between a young aspiring actress who is a devout Christian and her driver. Both are employed by Howard Hughes and according to the rules, both are forbidden to enter a relationship but they do as they wait to meet Howard Hughes.
Beatty who can be notoriously slow has been developing this project for more than 40 years after seeing Howard Hughes in a hotel lobby in the early 1970s.
The film is billed as a romantic comedy but is just constipated and pallid. Empty as the real life Hughes in his later years when he was filled up with drugs.
The only stand out moment is the farcical plane scene in London when Steve Coogan pops up (I presume he took this as an opportunity to appear with a screen legend.) For film nerds it is amusing to see Alec Baldwin show up in another film on Howard Hughes as he also appeared in Scorsese's The Aviator.
The only positive I can find is that Beatty the Director used digital to seamlessly blend the vintage film of Hollywood and other places.
Rule Don't Apply is his first film since since 2001. It is set in 1958 Hollywood and follows the romantic relationship between a young aspiring actress who is a devout Christian and her driver. Both are employed by Howard Hughes and according to the rules, both are forbidden to enter a relationship but they do as they wait to meet Howard Hughes.
Beatty who can be notoriously slow has been developing this project for more than 40 years after seeing Howard Hughes in a hotel lobby in the early 1970s.
The film is billed as a romantic comedy but is just constipated and pallid. Empty as the real life Hughes in his later years when he was filled up with drugs.
The only stand out moment is the farcical plane scene in London when Steve Coogan pops up (I presume he took this as an opportunity to appear with a screen legend.) For film nerds it is amusing to see Alec Baldwin show up in another film on Howard Hughes as he also appeared in Scorsese's The Aviator.
The only positive I can find is that Beatty the Director used digital to seamlessly blend the vintage film of Hollywood and other places.