Rules Don't Apply

The acting, music, set design.. just couldn't have been better. Highly reccomend!

No real direction and none of the caractors are remotely likable. Editing is choppy at best and by the end you really don't like anyone enough to care what happened to them. Not one persons wants to take accountablity for their actions, and it's not fun watching them do so.

I started watching this film rooting for it to suceed. I'm a big fan of all the actors in it, and Alden Erhenreich is a young actor who demands attention. But the movie seemed too contrived, too controlled, and ultimately, not satisfying. I undertand that Betty is not a young buck any longer, but he is still very handsome, so why he shot himself in constant shadow throughout over half the film grew irritating. (I also criticized the movie "Arrival" for its lack of decent lighting--trust me, most of the film "Arrival" was shot in darkened scenes, where you could barely make out what was going on in the scenes--it was so bad I was completely distracted by it.) As with "Arrival" I was irritated at this constant hiding in the shadows. I can only attribute Betty's desire to hide in the shadows as vanity on his part--wanting to be in the film, yet not wanting to be shot in bright light due to his age. What other explanation could there be? Regardless, Betty ultimately proved to us his ambivilance about movie making He wants to tell a story but at the same time doesn't want to tell a story. He wants to expose himself, but ultimately he doesn't want to expose himself or his story for that matter. Betty's hesitancy to share himself fully in this film is exemplified in this one simple cinematic slip-up. This could have been a highly satisfying film, but it got lost in the shadows. And the girl's character? Didn't care about her character one bit. It was all rather a waste of time.

Both as a director and actor, Warren Beatty is undoubtedly a living legend. If he had only done Heaven can wait, he would be considered a brilliant artist. But he has always made brave, awkward, different choices and gone all the way with them. From Reds to Dick Tracy and now to Howard Hughes. This is a multi-dimensional way to tell the Hughes story and it never stops being entertaining and insightful. Good job Mr. B, Good Job!