Crashed and burned.

Rating: 1/10 (18 September 2005)

This has got to be one of the worst movies I had ever seen. Almost 3 hours long, and not even 20 minutes of it is worth watching.
There doesn't seem to be any attempt to make Howard Hughes even interesting. Nor any of the other characters as a matter of fact. Most of major ones goes by as "who the heck are they?" all throughout the movie. Not even the great talents of Alan Alda nor Alec Baldwin could have saved this movie.
Instead of showing the struggles, the loves, and the eccentricities of Howard Hughes, it just shows him as a pointless nut-ball. Nothing more than a historical footnote. And that he is portrayed just as apathetic, if not just as pathetic, as Alan Alda's character.
Weak characters, poor story line, impotent action. In fact the crash sequence mentioned by the MPAA uses more sophisticated special effects than what was used on Star Trek Generations or Nemesis, and whose budget was more than the 2 movies Star Trek movies combined. But in every way the Aviator's crash sequence was inferior to either one of those 2 crashes.
If this movie were to even be nominated for any awards, make it a Rasberry award for worst picture.