Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Robert J. Maxwell The two lovers in this semi-fictional tale of Howard Hughes, his girl friends, and his bodyguard, are Alden Erenreich, who begins as a driver for Hughes and works his way up to chief cook and bottle washer, and Lilly Collins, a young naif from Front Royal, Virginia, who has put her education on a back burner after being put "on the hook" to Hughes and brought to Los Angeles for a screen test for a movie that will never be made. Their features are such that at time, if you squint properly, it seems that Leonardo de Caprio is kissing Elizabeth Taylor. We follow their careers in parallel.Warren Beatty, the producer, has brought a fine cast together and put them to work in a sentimental but successful comedy. The character holding the entire massive thing together is Howard Hughes himself, played to the bone by Beatty. He makes no attempt to capture the historic Hughes, the kind of extreme obsessive-compulsive that only great wealth can permit to exist without alarm bells ringing all over the place. Instead, Beatty gives us a loud. cheerful, reckless, clumsy, impulsive, and funny Howard Hughes -- always worrying that somebody's trying to "put me in the nut house." The best illustration has Beatty sitting alone in a darkened theater, listening to some Gofer read back his letter to some law enforcement agency. The letter is about a missing cat that belongs to Hughes' new wife. So we watch Beatty entranced by his own vulgar demands about a man with his resources and the disappeared cat, while Beatty twitches with delight and nods his head emphatically to underline the points his letter is making, perfectly satisfied with himself.I won't outline the plot but I'll say that it alternates between mostly understated comedy and sober softheartedness, with comedy predominant towards the beginning and emotionalism at the end, leading us to two happy lovers departing Hughes and misleading us to one Hughes and one lost love.That the rules don't apply is a reassurance given by Erenreich to Collins, who is concerned that the rules of Hollywood require her to give it up despite her stern Baptist upbringing, but of course the rules don't apply to Howard Hughes either. The notion of freedom from norms is caught up in a simple and tune written by Collins, accompanied by rather nifty lyrics. It's not so much that the rules don't apply. It's that to a great extent we make our own rules except for biological imperatives. We all grow up, grow old, and die. And there are several references, in the lyrics and elsewhere, of lost youth and fearful age. Of Collins it has to be said that she's right purty. Her features and gracile physique lend her an adolescent quality that's appealing.I admire the film especially because it lack the usual dumbed-down quality that afflicts so many Hollywood productions these days. Good job.

peterquennell Mostly not about the familiar tale of Howard Hughes, really more about the chaos that the super-rich too often rain on those dogged souls around them. Nice writing, great dialogue, a real roller-coaster. A situation is created in the first few minutes, and another at the one-hour mark, that are exceptionally well resolved in the last 15 minutes. That final arc, very cleverly plotted, with its perfect dialogue, every single word of it, and four slowly growing realizations, has had me watching it on the recorder half a dozen times. A small marvel. Great to see Alec Baldwin and Ed Harris in small parts and Matthew Broderick in a bigger part. I've seen all three repeatedly on Broadway in some of the funnier roles created - Broderick in The Foreigner was THE funniest I've seen, period. Also Taissa Farmiga, recently very funny on Broadway (with Ed Harris) and almost unrecognizable here.Thanks to Warren Beatty's kind writing, Alden Ehrenchreich and especially Lily Collins are the real stars of this movie.They have the most screen-time and some impressively funny scenes, sad scenes, confused scenes, angry and mistrustful scenes, and (surprise surprise) in-love scenes.Both have shown themselves wide-ranging previously in other roles. Alden Ehrenchreich really handled well the magic addressed against him in Beautiful Creatures.Lily Collins (daughter of Phil Collins) as a fiery princess acted Julia Roberts and Nathan Lane into the shade in Mirror Mirror - her training to become a dwarf warrior is another scene worth multiple re-watches.Her dark-eyed even look and confident voice and general lack of any fear have reminded some of a young Natalie Wood or Elizabeth Taylor. She would be so right if anyone ever makes another Ivanhoe. Especially a funny one.

Maryjnberry Warren Beatty is and always will be a futurist in the film industry, only on par with Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, in his ideas and performance. This picture is atypical of many of his biopics including Bonnie and Clyde, Bulworth, Bugsy and Shampoo. What is common with all of them is the sense of humor Beatty brings to the project. It is in that light that you must watch this movie, Beatty's take on Howard Hughes, that era in Hollywood, and the mores of the time. Annette Benning, one of Hollywoods most terrific actresses, is not seen nearly enough in this movie. Ms Benning always gives a fantastic performance especially in my favorites American Beauty, and Being Julia. Lily Collins is actually pretty good in this picture. Former pictures featuring Lily was Mortal Instruments, a movie based on best seller by Cassandra Claire. Her performance in the Disney film Mirror Mirror was just typical of most of the young actresses who have worked for Disney. Rules Don't Apply features new talent along with seasoned actors a great mix, which is quite successful here. This movie will be one to watch more than once to capture the brilliance of prose and innuendo.

phd_travel A driver and aspiring actress meet and fall in love. They both are in Hollywood for Howard Hughes.Warren is a little scary looking for Howard - a bit too old for the part. He seems more like a senile old man than an eccentric middle aged man.Lily Collins is so charmingly beautiful - she has an old Hollywood quality not seen since Audrey and Liz. Alden and her are quite okay together.The production is quite well done with beautiful old cars and sets.It's the story that isn't that compelling. The behavior of the characters is all too weird. Strange love child of Warren Beatty.Can see why this wasn't a big hit at the box office.