A Life is Not a Movie

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2004)

Some people are grousing that this film departs from history in certain ways, such as by exaggerating the depth and length of Howard Hughes' relationship with Katherine Hepburn. A life is not a movie. It's a jumble of various events in lives that collide together in an almost random fashion. To make a film you have to assemble those events into a cogent story. That's going to mean telescoping time, creating composite characters and fictional scenes that have at least an element of truth and move the story along. Martin Scorsese, as usual, has done that brilliantly. A nearly three hour film flies by without ever becoming boring.
It does, however become depressing. This is the story of a genius, (an egotistical, overbearing one but nonetheless a genius) who becomes undone by mental illness. Despite being the protagonist, Hughes is never really a sympathetic character. He's tragic but there's no attempt made to get the audience to like him. And the scenes of his mental entropy are painful but not at all touching. I did wonder how they were going to end this thing and the combination of success- the flight of the "spruce goose"- with another attack while Hughes mumbles about the future is excellent. Achievements were in his past, not his future.
DeCaprio forever banishes any idea that he was just the latest pretty boy. I never imagined that he could play Howard Hughes but he becomes Howard Hughes. If anything, he's more convincing in the final scenes when Hughes was much older that DeCaprio than in the early ones when he was close to Leonardo's present age. Leonardo DeCaprio is a legitimately. The Oscar will be between him and another performer who "became" his character- Jaime Foxx. They were both great.
As to the other performers, Cate Blanchett does about as well as you can trying to play the great Kate Hepburn, (this film is awash in Kates- or Cates). Kate Beckinsale is fine as Ava Gardner, who shows up before she should have. Why they spent the money to get Jude Law to play Errol Flynn, I don't know. He's just window dressing. Perhaps he had some scenes that wound up on the cutting room floor. Alec Baldwin is adequate as Hughes' rival, Juan Trippe, who created Pam Am Airlines. Alan Alda does a good job with another one of his "cast against type" roles as a corrupt Senator.
It's an impressive but not really enjoyable film that still may good enough to win a lot of awards, including Scorsese's elusive first Oscar. If the Red Sox can do it.