Rules Don’t Apply Blu-ray Review
Driver Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich, the Coen Bros.’ HAIL CAESAR!; he’s also set to play the young Han Solo) is assigned to pick up a young aspiring starlet. Before he departs, he’s reminded and warned that any employee of Howard Hughes’ who engages in “hanky panky” with a contract actress will be tossed to the curb. Thus emerges a romance between Frank and Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins, 2014’s LOVE, ROSIE), who both float in and around Hughes’ circle but find they’ve never actually met him. And then they do, and Hughes (Warren Beatty) is shown almost precisely as we might expect.
Warren Beatty hasn’t appeared in a film since 2001’s TOWN AND COUNTRY and hasn’t directed one since 1998’s BULWORTH. With RULES DON’T APPLY, he has come out of retirement to appear as the eccentric, controversial, enigmatic, genius figure that was Howard Hughes.
Hughes’ reputation, habits and achievements were legendary and have been up for plenty of speculation. So, too, have Beatty’s, and one can see why such a life would be fascinating to the Hollywood icon. RULES DON’T APPLY is far from shy about the links, or at least making much of it open for interpretation. Consider any scene where Hughes barks at employees, calling orders that may not seem important (bikini padding, for one) but are to him and so must be to those working for him. Those familiar with the career of Beatty will have no trouble drawing lengthy parallels. (A hard-to-ignore nod comes when a main character mentions a property on Mulholland Drive, or “Bad Boy Drive,” dubbed so due to residents like Brando, Nicholson and, yes, Beatty.) Others will only have to look at his credits on the movie—director, star, screenwriter, producer—to decide that the title of the movie works as a metaphor for both Hughes and Beatty.
Every time he’s onscreen, we are seeing Beatty and not Hughes. This winds up being an overbearing issue. One result is that he detracts from the story—notice how much of this review hasn’t made mention of the dynamic between Frank and Marla; there’s just so much of the Hughes/Beatty link to focus on, pulling attention away from what could have been the heart of the movie. And then there is Beatty’s performance, which simply isn’t very interesting or deep. Any complexities on the man that Beatty wanted to reveal are brushed under the rug so he can simultaneously stroke his tiny mustache and massive ego. (Beatty is such a prominent, powerful figure that he overshadows any big name that steps in front of the camera. And here, he easily makes one forget that such faces as Annette Bening (Beatty’s wife), Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Candace Bergen, Ed Harris and Martin Sheen, turned up at various points.)
RULES DON’T APPLY is wonderfully shot, costumed and scored, but none of these admirable factors do much in the end to detract from the point that the movie is a messy flop. With such suspicious intentions and selfish deeds, Beatty and his latest (and likely last) don’t offer much to be championed.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: 1.85:1 in 1080p with MPEG-4 AVC codec. One of the finer aspects to RULES DON’T APPLY is the cinematography (by Caleb Deschanel), which is presented wonderfully here. Additionally, for the duration, textures and colors are strong and accurate, further resulting in a commendable transfer.
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1; French DTS 5.1. Subtitles in English, Spanish and French. Audio is nice overall, with clean dialogue and a nice score.
This Is RULES DON’T APPLY (21:30): This featurette covers the production of RULES DON’T APPLY through clips and interviews with Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Alden Ehrenreich, Lily Collins and more.
“The Rules Don’t Apply” (2:19): Music video with the song performed by Lily Collins.
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Theatrical Trailer
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