TxMike My wife and I watched this at home on BluRay from our public library. To me it is great entertainment, she rated it a bit lower.The BD extras are interesting, apparently Warren Beatty has had the idea for many years, to write, direct, and star in this fictional story surrounding Howard Hughes and his many quirks. But always with a smile and a wink of the eye. It starts in 1959, Hollywood, and ends in 1964. Young aspiring starlet from West Virginia Lily Collins as Marla Mabrey is one of several invited by Hughes to try out for movie roles. Her mom is played well by Annette Bening who, of course, in real life is married to Warren Beatty.Marla's driver is Alden Ehrenreich as Frank Forbes, with a serious girlfriend back home south of L.A. And he is warned a sure way to get fired is to pursue one of the young starlets. Of course he and Marla become attracted to each other and begin a romance in secret. At one point when she is questioning what rules affect her he says, "To you rules don't apply", thus the title of the movie.Meanwhile we see glimpses of various Hughes escapades, one of his crashes of an experimental plane, his building the Spruce Goose and its successful flight, his troubles with TWA, and finally a conference phone call where he needed to prove to the world that he was alive and sane.Some will not like this movie for Beatty's portrayal of Howard Hughes, he was clearly doing it in a whimsical manner, but for me it totally worked, to me this movie is a complete success. It has a lot of other good actors including Matthew Broderick, Candice Bergen, Martin Sheen.

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.

gradyharp Warren Beatty wrote the screenplay for his own story (with Bo Goldman), stars in and directs this parody of the life of the very strange and very successful Howard Hughes. Though pieced together like a changing puzzle the film works, largely to a fine starring role for Beatty and a supporting cast that is up to his caliber.As the official synopsis states, 'An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire, Howard Hughes, (Warren Beatty) for whom they work. It's Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen, songwriter, and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes' #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes' behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.'Add to this a kaleidoscope of famous actors in secondary as well as bit roles – Matthew Broderick, Candice Bergen, Martin Sheen, Annette Benning, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Oliver Platt, Alec Baldwin, Dabney Coleman, and more – and the film becomes a play about Hollywood – in a good way. Not a great movie but an entertaining one.

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.