Warren Beatty returns to movies with ‘Rules Don’t Apply’

After decades of toying with the idea of a movie about Howard Hughes, Warren Beatty finally plays Hughes in “Rules Don’t Apply”, but this is most definitely not a biopic of the famously eccentric billionaire. Ironically enough, Hughes was notorious for his own love affairs and trysts, and was a major professional player in an industry “that relied financially very much on merchandizing what you might call a bad word: sex”, says Beatty.

Characters and themes aside, “Rules Don’t Apply” is one hot, frantic mess. But the older I got, the more aware I became of him.

COLLINS: Through the Beverly Hills Women’s Club. “I was happy just watching him because he was so in his element, running around, bossing everyone around”. Everyone is clearly here to work with the great Warren Beatty, but by the film’s end one has to wonder what he was trying to say beyond paying tribute to a legend. “Rules Don’t Apply”, Warren Beatty’s first film in 18 years, is the latter – a fun yet shallow piece of escapism.

The chemistry between Marla and Frank is palpable. But then there’s the title of the movie. In the movie, Lily Collins’ Marla Mabrey is one such gal, a spunky Baptist virgin. I honestly still don’t really know. But after falling for her driver Frank and other experiences, she goes through the-ups-anddowns of what it takes to obtain the Hollywood dream. Of COURSE it’s a Howard Hughes movie.

Ehrenreich was attached to Beatty’s long-gestating project for years. Though many troubles delayed the making of the film, most notably Martin Scorsese’s epic 2004 biopic of Hughes, Beatty waited and waited until his film could get made. Plus, it allows 79-year-old Beatty, in his return to the big screen after a hiatus of more than 15 years, to have fun with an eccentric role for which his true-life reputation seems nearly a kindred spirit. “He is incredibly perceptive about people”.

He’s very active in every aspect of the film-making process. That these two should become entranced is no surprise, but the confluence of Hughes and Hollywood makes things not so simple. To see that you can have both is incredible, because I want both and it’s proof. “And I felt like I was in the 1950s”. Called into action in the middle of the night, Frank finds himself taking a long stroll with Hughes that suggests he hasn’t entirely lost his ability to bond with others.

“I remember losing interest in the garlic chicken I was eating within 20 seconds”. At first, as we’ve come to expect, Beatty encourages us to laugh heartily at the guy’s quirks and gaffes.

It isn’t hard for us to see that “Cafe Society” is a kind of free fantasy on the basic tale of Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen (who, as a comic in a very different era, used to joke that if there’s such a thing as reincarnation, he wants to come back as “Warren Beatty’s fingertips.”) Call it a rivalry/friendship.

Lily Collins stars in “Rules Don’t Apply”, from legendary Academy-Award winning director Warren Beatty. “Are you telling me that Howard Hughes is in the next suite from me?” Now 79, Beatty arrived in Hollywood just about the same time Rules Don’t Apply is set. “They were very lovely and sexualized, yet many were also deeply religious, and I had no idea about this balance they kind of had to maintain”. Strong individual work is evident, but story lines meander, energy is lacking and nothing ignites the way you’d like it to.

One bonus of having so much time being connected to a project was that Ehrenreich was able to do some research.