Rules Don't Apply

"Warren Beatty's first directorial project since 1998's underrated and subsequently re-assessed Bulworth is a strangely inconsequential affair that functions nicely as a nostalgic trip to old Hollywood. Unfortunately it fails to really spark as either the romantic comedy it appears to have been conceived as, or as an insight into the later life of real-life industrialist-turned-Hollywood player Howard Hughes, whom Beatty portrays."

"Hughes hides ... until nearly 25 minutes into the picture, though the character can't help but commandeer our attention from that point on, especially amid the vanilla pudding that serves as the rest of the plot."

"Like everything this star-director has done, the film is deceptively smart. It's just a little too late to the game."

"A wildly scattershot comedy filled with bright moments that never cohere."

"It may be hyperbolic to describe Warren Beatty's Howard Hughes movie, "Rules Don't Apply," as a screwball "Citizen Kane." But that's what it feels like."

"Warren Beatty plays Howard Hughes with seductive charm, sneaky intelligence and buggy eccentricity. Sadly, Beatty as writer and director has chosen to make Hughes a supporting role, teasing a much deeper portrait."

"It's not without its charms, but there aren't enough of them and they don't readily cohere."

"A fitfully funny quasi-farce that takes off promisingly, loses its way mid-flight and comes in for a bumpy but safe landing."