Overcooked and lacking in nourishment

Rating: 5/10 (10 September 2012)

I admired this for its high production values but was disappointed that it is pitched more as an entertainment than as providing any insights into Howard Hughes the man. One test I have for film biographies is whether I get more understanding from the film than reading a Wikipedia article. This movie failed that test for me, since it did not give me any better understanding of Hughes than I had before seeing it. Hughes had an interesting career and personal life with many irons in the fire in both spheres. Maybe his life is too rich to be covered in a single movie that can go beyond hitting the high points of his work in movies, his aviation achievements, and more than a hint of his romances.
Leonard DiCaprio gives it his best, but I feel he did not capture the essence of the man. In any archival footage of Hughes that I have seen he evinces a charisma and intelligence that I did not get from DiCaprio's performance. I found Hughes was presented here as rather one-dimensional, always barking orders and instructing his assistant to mortgage everything to support his current passion. Hughes wound up as one of the wealthiest men in the United States, but I never got a feel from this movie as to how he amassed his fortune--he had to be more of a cunning businessman than what we are given here. As much as I like Cate Blanchett, I found her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn created more of a caricature than a character. She got close on the voice, but I have to believe that Hepburn was a more serious person than the flippant and shallow person created. Best for Scorsese that Hepburn never saw this movie as I am sure she would have ripped him to shreds. Alan Alda, as U.S. Senator Brewster, is the only actor whose performance engaged me. The battle of egos between Brewster and Hughes provided a spark, missing in most other scenes.
Hints of the obsessive compulsive disorder that was to ravage Hughes in later life are dropped along the way, like his wanting his peas served in a 4x4 matrix and being upset when someone disturbed the symmetry. I found it curious that nobody ever directly addressed this, either to Hughes or to friends, early on. I think that most people who saw a friend behaving this way would be concerned and bring it up as odd enough to be of concern long before the sickness reached a level where it could no longer be ignored.
There are some spectacular shots of planes of the era. The scene where Hughes crashed an XF-11 into a Los Angeles neighborhood is rendered in harrowing detail. The mock-up of the Spruce Goose (which in fact was made primarily of birch) was wonderfully realized.
I quickly tired of the exaggeration for effect, like Hughes burning all his clothes on the floor of his house and letting Hepburn fly his plane over Los Angeles at night when she had never flown before. The scenes in the nightclub were so amped up in order to create a sense of chaos and frenzy that they were unbelievable, capped off by a band leader who was ridiculously gesticulating like a mad man.
This is a passable entertainment, but disappointing, given the effort put into it and the fact that it comes from Scorsese.