Rules Don't Apply : Worst Movie Ever

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The problem with Rules Dont Apply is that its a passion project, and it feels like a passion project, in a bad way. Beatty clearly wanted to play Hughes, the mid-20th century airline titan, sometime film producer and banana nut ice cream enthusiast previously played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorseses The Aviator. And Beattys is a decent performance, focusing on Hughes as an ultra-charismatic, if somewhat tortured, eccentric whom his entire circle cant help but to rotate around like hes the sun. Put it up aside DiCaprio, and the difference is stark: Rules Dont Applys Hughes is something of a tragic figure, to be sure, but its tragic in a glossed-over, old-school Hollywood way. Theres no bordering-on-fetishistic portrayal of mental illness. He doesnt pee in any bottles.

Part of Hughes retinue are aspiring actress Marla (Lily Collins), all virginal sweetness and oh my stars!, and her driver, Frank (Ehrenreich), an aspiring businessman who wants Hughes ear so he can convince him to invest in a real estate project. Marla and Frank are interested in each other from the start, but their romance is star-crossed: Hughes has strict rules against drivers and actresses dating, and anyway, Frank is engaged to his hometown sweetheart (Farmiga).

Marla and Frank make up the other two points of Rules Dont Applys main character triangle, and my God, Warren Beatty, pick a plot. You get the sense that Hughes was envisioned as a supporting player in Frank and Marlas epic love, but Beatty-the-writer/director cant help himself from going back to him time and again, because. well, passion project. Hes always wanted to play Hugheswhat is he only going to do two scenes? The result is rambling, disjointed mess that needed to be edited down in a big way.

There are individual elements that workCandice Bergen is great to see again, as Hughes business manager Nadine. And Bening is a standout as Marlas puritanical mother, whose views about what Marla is getting herself into, though they would have seemed prudish and old-fashioned back in the sexually-awakening 60s, look pretty smart now. (To wit: These men just want to have sex with you. Dont let yourself be taken advantage of.) And Ehrenreich comports himself admirably, as the fish-out-of-water Frank bringing some jolts of humor to an otherwise tedious affair. If you need something to see this weekend, go to Moana instead.

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